P 128 
.67 

.F4 F54 
Copy 1 




RFTH AVENUE 
EVENTS 




trvm a plwti>);raph. 



collection oj FuLii Bros. 



THE DEWEY ARCH. 



Temporarily erected at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in honor of 
Admiral George Dewey at the time of his reception by New York. 



"^jJra^ OJVS^JWJUUL/ kj^WSAjU/ CrL ^Wjlx.^ Lvi^vAv 

FIFTH AVENUE 
EVENTS 



^ brief Account of some 

of the most Interesting Events 

yphich have Occurred 

on the Avenue 



■r*S ■ , - ' ■■ ■ k^ • 












Printed for 

The Fifth Avenue Bank 

of New York 

1916 






Copyright, 1916, 

BY 

The Fifth Avenue Bank of New York 



C « • 



ll'ritten, designed and printed under direction of the 

li'alton Advertising end Printing (^mpany 
Boston, Mass. ^f 



FOREWORD 

50 MUCH interest was shown by the clientele of The Fifth 
Avenue Bank of New York in its recent monograph on the 
I History of Fifth Avenue, that the Bank, which for over forty 
years has been peculiarly the bank of Fifth Avenue, whose name 
it bears, has ventured the publication of another brochure. This 
narrates some of the most interesting events that have occurred on 
the Avenue. The Bank hopes that it will prove as interesting as was 
the first. 

The author desires to acknowledge the assistance given in the 
preparation of this book by Clarence S. Brigham, Librarian American 
Antiquarian Society; New York Public Library; Harper & Brothers; 
Mrs. Robert W. de Forest; Philip Baer, Librarian City Clerk's 
Office, New York City; Michael B. Abrahams, Librarian New York 
Times; John D. Crimmins; J. Clarence Davies; E. N. Tailer; G. L. 
Gilham; P. B. Boden; Dr. F. M. Clendenin; John S. Billings. 

He is also indebted to the following authorities: New York Tri- 
bune; New York Times; New York Herald; New York Daily Express; 
Harper's Weekly; "History of New York City," Lossing; "History 
of New York City," W. L. Stone; Morning Courier and New York 
Enquirer; "New York and its Institutions"; "Story of the Volunteer 
Fire Department," Sheldon; King's Handbook of New York; Maga- 
zine of American History; "Fires and Fire Fighters," John Kenlon; 
"New York by Sunlight and Gaslight"; the Peterson Magazine. 

To those not familiar with The Fifth Avenue Bank a few words 
here about its history and scope may be interesting. The Bank, 
which commenced doing business October 13, 1875, opened in the 
basement of the old Sherwood house at 531 Fifth Avenue,_ across the 
street from its present location. Its purpose was to furnish a place 
of deposit for those who resided or did business in this part of the city; 
and it was thought at least 50,000 people were in the vicinity of the 
Bank who needed adequate banking facilities. 

The first president was Philip Van Vclkenburgh; the first vice- 
president, John H. Sherwood, a prominent builder who was the pioneer 
in the erection of high-class residences north of 42d Street, and did 
much to establish upper Fifth Avenue as an exclusive residential 
section. The first cashier was A. S. Frissell, long president of the 
Bank, and now chairman of the Board of Directors, havmg recently 
been succeeded as president by Theodore Hetzler. The ongmal 
Board of Directors was, in addition to the officers, James Buell, John 
B. Cornell, Jonathan Thorne, Gardner Wetherbee, William H. Lee, 
Russell Sage, Webster Wagner, Joseph S. Lowrey, Charles S. Smith, 
and Joseph Thompson. The original rental of the office in the base- 
ment of the Sherwood house was $2,600, including gas and heating 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



the rooms — a ridiculously low rate considering the present range of 
Fifth Avenue prices. 

About 1890 the Bank moved to its present site on the northwest 
corner of Fifth Avenue and 44th Street, then the residence of John B. 
Cornell, which had been built in 1866. It later bought the adjoining 
residence of Manton Marble, former editor of the World. 

An interesting feature in connection with the history of the Bank 
is that from 1626, when Peter Minuit bought the whole of Manhattan 
Island from the aborigines for about ^24 in cheap trinkets, there 
have been but four transfers of the corner on which the Bank stands. 

In periods of financial distress The Fifth Avenue Bank has always 
been able to offer its patrons the support needed to tide them over 
many a difficult situation. Its growth has been steady, and among 
its large number of depositors may be found the names of some of the 
best-known firms in the city and many of the families which have 
long been prominent either socially or financially in New York City. 

No small part of its success has been due to the especial attention 
it gives to personal and family accounts, of which it has an unusually 
large number. Among other banking institutions to which many 
of the young men it has trained have gone to accept official positions, 
it is often spoken of as "the kindergarten of bankers." It oflters, in 
addition to its banking facilities, a thoroughly equipped safe deposit 
vault with every modern convenience for the individual as well as 
the corporation. Should you contemplate the establishing of banking 
relations, it hopes you will give its officers an opportunity to explain 
some of the advantages it has to offer. 



^wlf 




Reproduction 
of a silk badge 
(actual size) 
worn at the lay- 
ing of the corner 
stone of the 
Washington 
Monument, in 
what was then 
Hamilton Square. 
The Square ex- 
tended from 
Fifth Avenue to 
Third Avenue, 
6 6th to 68th 
Streets. 










z\ev y^*^ ^'^-^ ^^('^ ^•'^f-' 

IS 1-7. 




The crooked 
appearance of 
the monument 
is due to the silk 
threads that run 
across the badge 
pulling when the 
emblem was 
printed. The 
original is in the 
collection of 
John D. Crim- 
niins. 




FIFTH AVENUE 
EVENTS 




IFTH AVENUE has had its part in making history. 
The history has not been the kind that lives in 
school-books or furnishes chapters to a Bancroft or a 
Rhodes, but that which is buried in the transient 
columns of ephemeral publications. It is of wide 
interest, however, for many of the social, civic, and 
military events which have taken place on the Avenue 
have a national as well as a local aspect. 
Most residents of New York, as well as those who live elsewhere, 
conceive of Fifth Avenue as wholly given up to palatial homes, exclu- 
sive shops, and great business interests. Few realize that the Avenue 
has become the national banquet hall where heroes and statesmen 
have been feted, or the parade ground toward which a nation has 
turned to witness great demonstrations in celebration of national 
events of a civic or military or mournful nature. Along it have gone 
to the music of dirges and the sound of mournful drums the funeral 
corteges of many of the country's leading statesmen and greatest 
men, and here, too, have occurred riots and disastrous fires which 
have startled the city and shocked the nation. 

It is the purpose of this book to present some of the most interest- 
ing events of which the Avenue has been the scene, and to gather 
together many occurrences that have either been forgotten or linger 
as dim recollections in the minds of old residents. 

Space does not permit an inclusion of all the interesting events, for 
a large volume could not contain them. Here, however, may be 
found, the compiler hopes, most of the events worth recording. 

RECEPTIONS, BANQUETS, AND WEDDINGS 

If all of the nation's guests who have come to New York and been 
entertained on Fifth Avenue were named and the particulars of their 



8 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

stay enumerated, these pages would be insufficient to tell the story. 
Representative social events of a national rather than a local nature, 
therefore, have been selected. 

One of the earliest and most notable visits was that late in i860 
by Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, and heir to the throne of 
England. Less than a decade later Charles Dickens, master of Brit- 
ish humor, was feted at Delmonico's; and here in 1871 was tendered 
a banquet to Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch of Russia by the 
New York Yacht Club. Later occurred the visit of Li Hung Chang, 
the Chinese statesman who was a guest at the Hotel Waldorf, and 
still later came Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of the Kaiser, who 
was entertained at the Waldorf-Astoria. 

The coming to New York, in October, i860, of the future Edward 
VII of England, son of Queen Victoria, at that time the nineteen- 
year-old Prince of Wales, was the occasion of great festivities on Fifth 
Avenue. On Thursday, October 11, the revenue cutter Harriet Lane 
The Prince brought the Prince and his suite to New York from South Amboy. 
of Wales' The landing at Castle Garden was made amid the booming of can- 
V IS It to New non, the blare of bands, and enthusiastic demonstrations of wel- 
come from a vast crowd that packed the water front and adjacent 
streets. 

At the Battery Mayor Fernando Wood, attended by a throng of 
city officials headed by Alderman F. I. A. Boole and the committee of 
reception, formally welcomed the Prince to New York. With two 
troops of cavalry attached to the Seventh and Eighth Regiments 
as an escort, the carriages containing the Prince and his party 
moved up Broadway. In the procession were the First, Second, 
Third, and Fourth Brigades of New York Militia, with the Kings 
County Military. The route of the parade was from Broadway along 
the east side of Union Square, west on 17th Street to Fifth Avenue, 
and up Fifth Avenue to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where the royal party 
was to put up. The sidewalks, roof-tops, and windows along the way 
were jammed with the greatest crowd that New York's streets had 
ever seen, a throng estimated at 250,000. On all sides the Eng- 
lish and American flags blended in a tangled drift of color; brilliantly 
hued decorations and mottoes — "Welcome, Victoria's Royal Son," 
"God Save the Queen," "Welcome, Albert Edward," "Welcome, 
Lord Renfrew," etc. — covered many buildings; and the crash of 
martial music, the heavy tramp of the marching soldiery, and the 
cheers of the applauding thousands mingled in one deafening outburst 
of sound. To the noisy but kindly greeting of the crowds the Prince 
replied good-naturedly with bows and smiles, and his graceful courtesy, 
pleasant face, and slender, boyish figure instantly won their warm ap- 
proval. There was nothing in his manner by which a casual observer 
could have told him from thousands of other well-dressed young New 
Yorkers. 

In front of the City Hall the Prince and his suite reviewed the parade 
from a raised platform and then he resumed his place at the head of 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 




From an engraving. 



Massachusetts Historical Society. 



H. R. H. THE PRINCE OF WALES AS HE APPEARED WHEN HE VISITED 

AMERICA. 

the line. As the column swung into Fifth Avenue the fall afternoon 
was drawing to a close, and the gathering dusk partly obscured the 
faces of the royal party from the crowds. 

At length, about 6.30 p.m., the royal barouche drove around the 
corner of 23d Street to the private door of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, 
and the Prince quickly entered. "A fleeting vision of a scarlet coat, 



lo FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

and a white plume nodding gracefully, and he was gone. B'or this 
thousands had stood six to eight hours." 

Many persons had objected to the Prince's stopping at the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel because it was "so far up town." The proprietors, 
Messrs. Hitchcock and Darling, had spared no pains to make the 
Prince's apartments as comfortable and luxurious as possible. 

The Prince said good-night to the Mayor and Civic Committee in 

his room, but although night had fallen the open space between the 

front of the hotel and the railing of the park across the Avenue was 

still black with a mass of shouting, cheering humanity. Preceded 

by the Duke of Newcastle and followed by Dr. Ackerman, Sir Henry 

Holland, General Bruce, Lord Lyons, Hon. Mr. Eliot, the Earl of 

St. Germans, and others of his suite, the Prince went out on the 

balcony of the hotel and bowed his thanks to the plaudits of the 

crowd, retiring amid wild cheers. 

Gardner The late Mr. Gardner Wetherbee, who was one of New York's 

Wetherbee's prominent hotel-owners, was at this time a clerk in the Fifth Avenue 

Remi- Hotel. He said that the jolly young Prince was much bored at the 

mscences of £^gg ^^^ feathers made over his coming and the endless ceremony 

o^f W^f''^' and red tape which hedged his every act, and related that the future 

yi^ll^ monarch was so relieved upon reaching his apartments after the 

conclusion of the parade that he gleefully threw all dignity to the winds 

and played leap-frog in the corridor with his retinue. 

At midnight the Prince, who had retired with a bad headache, 
was called to the window of his room to acknowledge the salutes of 
the Caledonia Club. Headed by Dodworth's Band, this organization, 
most of whose members belonged to the Scotch Regiment commanded 
by Colonel McLeay, marched up Broadway to the Fifth Avenue Hotel 
and drew up opposite the Prince's apartments. A serenade was 
given in the Prince's honor, the band playing "God Save the Queen," 
"Hail, Columbia," and other national airs, and a roar of applause 
from the crowd before the hotel greeted the tired young visitor's 
appearance. 

The morning of the following day, Friday, October 12, i860, was 
spent by the Prince and his suite in visiting the buildings of New 
York University, the Astor Library, Cooper Union, the Free Academy, 
and Central Park. 

From the Free Academy the four carriages containing the Prince 
and his suite were driven to Central Park, escorted by Police Superin- 
tendent Kennedy. On the way other carriages joined the line, so 
that there were some forty in the procession by the time the Park 
was reached, soon after noon. The royal party entered Central Park 
at the corner of 59th Street and Eighth Avenue, and found Messrs. 
C. H. Russell, R. M. Blatchford, T. C. Fields, A. H. Green, H. G. 
Stebbins, and W. Hutchins of the Central Park Commission waiting 
to greet them. A short distance southeast of the Terrace ground had 
been broken for the planting of two trees by the Prince, one an English 
oak, the other an American elm. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS ii 

Here the Prince and his suite left their carriages, and Major-General The Prince 
Sandford presented Mr. Blatchford to the Prince. After an address plants Trees 
by Mr. Blatchford, a crowd of workmen about two hundred in num- in Central 
ber formed a circle about the place to keep back the throng, Mr. Park 
Green brought forward the elm tree, and the Prince shovelled dirt 
on the roots amid the cheers of the spectators. Then the party 
re-entered their carriages and were driven along the southern side 
of the lake, around the Circle and across the Terrace to the carriage 
step near the Cedars, where the Prince alighted and was escorted by 
Mr. Green through the Ramble, past the rustic summerhouses, by 
the iron bridge and the cave, under the arch and over the oak bridge 
to the driveway on the west of the Ramble, where the others of the 
party were awaiting them in the carriages. After driving along the 
western shore of the lake, the Prince and his suite left the Park at 
72d Street. 

A luncheon at Mayor Wood's residence on Bloomingdale Road 
was followed by visits to the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Fort 
Washington, and the Century House up Kingsbridge Road; after 
which the party boarded a steamer and were shown the city institu- 
tions on the islands. The day closed in a finale of splendor with a 
grand ball to the Prince given at the Academy of Music. 

Saturday, October 13, was spent by the visitors in visiting Brady's 
photographic studios, corner of loth Street and Broadway; Barnum's 
Museum on Broadway; General Scott at his 12th Street residence; 
and the Broadway store of Ball, Black & Co. On Saturday night The 
the New York firemen gave a great torchlight parade in honor of the Torchlight 
Prince. Five thousand uniformed men, comprising one hundred and Parade 
four companies, with apparatus and many bands, poured like a river °f ^he Nezv 
of fire past the balcony of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, on which stood ^°^ 
the young Prince with his suite and several city officials. firemen 

It was nearly half-past nine before the parade reached the Fifth 
Avenue Hotel. The appearance of the Prince on the balcony was 
the signal for a great discharge of fireworks from the advancing 
column, the crowds packing the sidewalks before the hotel burst into 
a roar of applause, and the men of Hook and Ladder Company No. 
12 threw the brilliant beams of the calcium light, lent them by Pro- 
fessor R. Ogden Doremus — a novelty at that time — full upon the 
Prince, outlining his boyish figure in a dazzling glare of white light, 
while the bands crashed out the British anthem and thousands of 
flaring torches danced and waved against the inky blackness of the 
beautiful October night. It was a wonderful scene, and the Prince 
was openly enthusiastic. 

As the first steam fire engine rolled by the balcony a torrent of 
shells shot skyward from its smokestack and burst into a thousand 
jewelled points of gold and blue and green and crimson. One steamer 
went past with its stack belching fire like a volcano, in imitation of a 
blazing urn. The old "Hay Wagon" rolled by, covered with flags 
and drawn by Exempt Engine Company, led by Mr. Zophar Mills. 



12 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



While passing down the Bowery opposite the Cooper Institute, the 
fireworks in the box of Columbian Engine No. 14 exploded, the ma- 
chine cauglit fire, and before the flames were extinguished much of 
the beautifully carved panelling on the engine was destroyed. 

The next morning, Sunday, October 14, i860, the Prince with 
some of his retinue attended services in Trinity Church and heard a 
sermon by Rev. Dr. Vinton. The Prince and his suite sat in the first 
three pews on the south side of the aisle. Near him sat General 
Winfield Scott, while Hon. George Bancroft stood in the aisle. He 
passed the afternoon quietly at the hotel, and dined in the evening 
with Consuls Archibald and Cartwright. 

On Monday morning, October 15, at half-past nine, the Prince said 
farewell to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and, entering a plain two-horse 
carriage with Mayor Wood, the Duke of Newcastle, and the Earl of 
St. Germans, was driven down Fifth Avenue on his way to the harbor, 
where the cutter Harriet Lane was waiting to take him to West Point 
and Albany. His visit to New York, brief as it was, had yet done 
much to cement the bonds of friendship between the two great Eng- 
lish-speaking nations, and New York bade him Godspeed with genu- 
ine regret. 
Grant's At the close of the Civil War in 1 865, General Grant came to New 
Reception at York, and the people of the city were enthusiastically agreed that a 
Fifth Avenue testimonial of their gratitude must be given to the General who had 
Hotel preserved the Union. At the Fifth Avenue Hotel a number of prom- 
inent business men of the city met and decided that a public reception 
and banquet to the great soldier would be a fitting way in which to 
demonstrate New York's feeling toward him, and $100 was subscribed 
by each of a hundred and fifty gentlemen to defray expenses. 

The reception was held at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on November 
20, 1865. Unfortunately, it seems to have been poorly managed, 
and there was much dissatisfaction among those who attended. 
The guests began to arrive in droves early in the evening, and soon 
the halls, corridors, and reception rooms of the hotel were jammed 
with a perspiring, pushing, jostling crowd numbering some twenty- 
five hundred persons. Having by their own negligence got this throng 
on their hands, the committee in charge of the reception added to the 
general confusion by rushing here and there shouting orders which 
no one could obey. 

One of the hotel parlors was used as a reception room for General 
Grant, and against one side of it was a dais with chairs. The room 
was undecorated save for a beautiful floral piece furnished by Brower 
and valued at $500, composed of jasmines, heliotropes, forget-me-nots, 
camellias, and tuberoses arranged in the design of an American flag 
with the initials U. S. G. General Grant stood in front of the flowers 
surrounded by the committee, with Mrs. Grant and other ladies to 
his right, and on his left Generals Wool, Cook, and Hooker, Messrs. 
John Van Buren, Ethan Allen, and others. 

The names of those with sufficient courage and muscle to break 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



13 



through the throng and approach the General were announced to him 
by a_ httle man who got most of them wrong, and the affair took on 
an air of farce-comedy. Prayers were offered up for the General by 
some religious fanatics as they passed him, and the verbal offerings of 
other persons were grotesquely amusing: — 



I ,"- 




From a print. 



RECEPTION TO GENERAL GRANT AT THE FIFTH AVENUE 

HOTEL. 



I'm so glad to see you, General. God bless and preserve you many 
years!' 

'"General, this is my eldest son, William Mason. — Willie, tell 
General Grant the little prayer you say for him every night.' (Willie 
attempts to do so, but is moved on suddenly by the active Committee- 
men.) 

'"I had a brother in the Twenty-ninth Connecticut. I wonder if 
you knew him.'" 



H 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



No doubt the worthy General felt immensely relieved when the 
ordeal was over, and he sat down to a banquet in his honor. 
Dinner to "The Master of Humor and Pathos," Charles Dickens, was tendered 
Charles a banquet at Delmonico's on April 1 8, 1868, by some two hundred 
Dickens at members of the American press, just before he left for England. 
Jelmonuo s American and British flags adorned the walls of the banquet hall, 
which bore on one side the British arms flanked by "Old Glory" 
and the red cross of St. George, and on the other the arms of the 
United States supported in the same way. Beautiful vases of many- 
colored flowers and elaborate pieces of confectionery illustrative of 
English and American literature covered the tables, and even the 
bill of fare had a literary taste, for on it were "consomme a la Sevigne," 
"agneau farci a la Walter Scott," "crime d'asperges a la Dumas," 
"cotelettes a la Fenimore Cooper," "les petites Zimballes a la Dick- 
ens," and like succulent dishes. Covers were laid for a hundred and 
eighty-seven guests. Fine music was given by a band in an adjoining 
room. 

The company assembled about five o'clock, but Mr. Dickens had 
become suddenly indisposed and did not appear until after six. Hon. 
Horace Greeley, who presided, met the great author at the head of 
the stairway, which the latter climbed slowly and painfully, limping 
badly and leaning on a cane, as he was suffering from the gout. 

Led into the parlor by Mr. Greeley, Mr. Dickens was helped to a 
seat between Mr. Greeley and Mr. Henry J. Raymond. Hungry 
after their hour's wait, the party fell to upon the "literary" bill of 
fare. Then Mr. Greeley rose and opened the speech-making. He 
told how, years before, he had chosen a story called "Delicate Inten- 
tions" from the old London Monthly, by a then unknown author 
writing under the pen-name of "Boz," to print in the very first 
weekly newspaper he published, — "Boz" being Dickens' nam de 
plume and the story now being entitled "Mr. Watkins Tottle." 

Mr. Dickens then answered the toast in his honor. 
Dickens' "Gentlemen," he began, "so much of my voice has lately been 
Speech heard among you, that I might have been content with troubling you 
no further from my present standpoint, were it not for the duty with 
which I henceforth charge myself, not only here but everywhere, and 
upon every suitable occasion, whensoever and wheresoever, to ex- 
press my high and grateful sense of my hospitable reception in 
America, and to bear my honest testimony to the national generosity 
and magnanimity. Also to declare how astounding and amazing 
have been the changes that I have seen around me upon every side." 

He ascribed his early success to his hard training in newspaper 
work, and declared that his sons would be witnesses to the fact that 
he had always been proud of the ladder by which he had climbed to 
fame. 

"But what I have intended and what I have resolved on," he con- 
tinued, "and this is the confidence I am about to place in you, is on 
my return to England, in my own English journal, manfully, promptly. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 




From a rare photograph. Collection of Charles L. Rtlzmann. 

CHARLES DICKENS AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER. 

and plainly in my own person, to bear for the behalf of my country- 
inen such testimony of the gigantic changes in this country as I have 
hinted at here to-night. Also to record that wherever I have been, 
in the smallest place equally with the largest, I have been received 
with unsurpassed politeness, delicacy, sweet-temper, hospitality, and 
consideration. . . . This testimony, so long as I live, and so long as my 
descendants have any legal right in my books, I shall cause to be re- 
published, as an appendix to every copy of those two books of mine 
in which I have referred to America. And this I will do and cause 
to be done, not in mere love and thankfulness, but because I regard 
it as an act of plain justice and honor." 

These words were greeted with enthusiastic applause, for they went 



i6 



FIFTH A \' E N UK E \' E N T S 



Dickens on 

Americans 

in 

England 



Banquet to 

Grand Duke 

Alexis at 

Delmonico^s 



far toward removing the sting left in many of those present by Mr. 
Dickens' previous written references to this country. He continued: — 

" I was asked in this city, about last Christmas, whether an American 
was not at some disadvantage in England as a foreigner. The notion 
of an American being regarded in England as a foreigner at all — or 
ever being thought of, or spoken of, in that character — was so un- 
common and egregious and absurd that my gravity for the moment 
overpowered me. . . . Points of difference there have been — points 
of difference there are — points of difference possibly there will be 
between these two great peoples; but broadcast in England prevails 
the one great sentiment that these two peoples are essentially one — 
and that it rests with them jointly to uphold the great Anglo-Saxon 
race. ... If I know anything of my countrymen ... I say the English 
heart is stirred by the flutter of the Stars and Stripes as it is stirred 
by no other flag that flies besides its own. ... I believe that from the 
majority of the honest men on both sides there cannot be absent the 
conviction that it would be better for this globe to be riven by an 
earthquake — fired by a comet — over-run by a sea-break — than to 
present the spectacle of these great nations, each of which has in your 
way or in ours striven so hard and successfully for freedom, ever again 
being arrayed one against the other." 

As Mr. Dickens sat down amid wild applause, the band struck 
up "God Save the Queen," and in an instant every man present was 
on his feet singing lustily. The next speaker was Henry J. Raymond, 
who brilliantly responded to the toast, "The New York Press." 
Then came a succession of toasts, which, with their respondents, were 
as follows: — 

"The Weekly Press," George William Curtis; "The Monthly 
Press," William Henry Hurlburt; "The Boston Press," Charles Eliot 
Norton; "The New England Press," Joseph R. Hawley; "The 
Northern Press," George W. Demers; "The Western Press," Murat 
Halstead; "The Southern Press," Edwin de Leon; "The South- 
western Press," T. B. Thorpe; and "The Scientific Press," E. L. 
Youmans. 

The festivities continued late into the evening, and before he de- 
parted each gentleman present shook hands with Mr. Dickens. 

The banquet tendered to New York's distinguished visitor. Grand 
Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch of Russia, by the New York Yacht 
Club at Delmonico's on December 2, 1871, was a most magnificent 
affair. Some seventy were present, including the Grand Duke and 
his suite, Mr. Catacazy, the Russian Minister, General Gorloff, 
Admiral Poisset, Admiral Rowan, members of the Russian legation 
and the New York Yacht Club, and Russian naval officers. 

Commodore James Gordon Bennett, Jr., of the club received the 
Grand Duke at seven o'clock in Delmonico's parlors, and a half-hour 
of agreeable conversation ensued. Then the party filed into the 
banquet hall, led by Commodore Bennett with the Grand Duke on 
his arm. The company sat down to the strains of "The Poet and 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



17 




From a print. Harper's Weekly. 

PROCESSION IN HONOR OF GRAND DUKE ALEXIS PASSING THE GRAND 

STAND. 

Peasant" overture, played by Julien's Orchestra; the Grand Duke 
on Mr. Bennett's right and Minister Catacazy on his left, the club 
officers at the same table with the ducal party. The walls of the 
banquet hall were ablaze with brilliant decorations. The blue St. 
Andrew's Cross of Russia blended with the Stars and Stripes, the 
American and Russian coats-of-arms hung side by side, and on all 
sides flags, streamers, and yacht club pennants mingled in a riot of 
color. The ducal party were in handsome naval uniforms, jewelled 
decorations flashed on the breasts of the Grand Duke and many 
of his officers, and the club officials were in full evening dress. In a 
place of honor on the table, amid a galaxy of trophies won by yachts 
of the club, stood the "Queen's Cup," won by the America in 1851. 
Rare flowers were woven upon a framework in a beautiful model of 
a yacht under full sail, and among the confectioners' triumphs was 
a representation of the Grand Duke with elaborate Russian and 
American naval insignia. A beautifully engraved monogram of the 
Grand Duke topped the menu card, and on its border were naval 
emblems and yacht club pennants. 

Commodore Bennett opened the speech-making with a tribute to 
the Grand Duke's father, closing with a toast to the Czar. To this 
toast General Gorloff" responded, while Mr. Bennett answered that to 
the President of the United States, Then the President of the New 



i8 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

York Yacht Club announced that the Grand Duke had been admitted 
to honorary membership, and to the ensuing toast the Grand Duke 
responded: — 

"I am sure, gentlemen, that it would be but ingratitude on my 
part to refrain from immediately thanking you for the honor you 
have conferred upon me. I am well aware what a magnificent yacht 
club yours is. I know that it is the finest in the world, and am fully 
conscious it could not be surpassed even with great efforts on the 
part of other countries. I am a man of the sea myself, and can 
appreciate the enthusiasm with which you enter into all that regards 
yachting. Once more I sincerely thank you." 

In conclusion the Grand Duke spoke of his gratitude for the hospi- 
tality and courtesy shown him by Americans of all classes, and de- 
clared that he would never forget their kindness. 

Minister Catacazy personally responded to a toast in his honor, 
and Admiral Rowan proposed "The Army and Navy of Russia," 
which was answered by Admiral Poisset. Other toasts followed, 
and not until midnight did the company break up. 
Banquet to Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of Kaiser Wilhelm, and admiral 
Prince o{ the German Navy, came to New York on February 23, 1902, as a 
Henry of special envoy from the German Emperor to the President and people 
Prussia of the United States. 
at Waldorf- On the evening of February 26 the Nezv Yorker Staats-Zeitiing gave 
Astoria ^ grand banquet in his honor at the Waldorf-Astoria, which was 
attended by more than twelve hundred editors and publishers, states- 
men, financiers, and other public men. The great ball room of the 
hotel looked like a gorgeous garden with luxuriant bowers of roses, 
palms, smilax, lilies, and ferns; hundreds of electric lights cast soft 
beams of rosy radiance through shades of pink silk; and back of the 
dais upon which stood the Prince's table were crossed two great 
American and German flags, covering half the side of the wall, with 
the eagle of Prussia standing out in electric light bulbs of red, white, 
blue, and yellow from bowers of smilax and lilies. Nine tables ran 
the length of the room and were nearly smothered in red roses, and 
on each plate lay a handsome white rose. 

W hen Prince Henry arrived he was escorted through a lane be- 
tween hundreds of cheering guests by Herman Ridder and Edward 
Uhl to his seat on the dais, while the orchestra played "America." 
The Prussian eagle on the wall flashed into a myriad of jewelled points 
of blazing electric light as the Hohenzollern sat down at the right of 
Mr. Ridder, the toastmaster. Whitelaw Reid sat beside the Prince, 
and on the toastmaster's left was Ambassador von Holleben. Among 
others at the Prince's table were Bishop Potter, Assistant Secretary 
Hill, Mayor Seth Low, Rear Admiral Evans, General von Plessen, 
Admiral von Seckendorff, Adjutant-General Corbin, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Woodruff, Consul-General Buenz, Senators Lodge and Depew, 
Admiral von Tirpitz, Edward Uhl, and Admiral Count von 
Baudissin. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



19 



The banqueters moved about the hall between the courses, greeting 
acquaintances, while the orchestra rendered popular airs. "Die 
Wacht am Rhein" was cheered loudly. Mr. Ridder opened the 
speech-making with toasts to President Roosevelt, Kaiser Wilhelm, 
and Editor Reid of the Tribune. Mr. Reid spoke and was followed 
by Mr. Ridder, who at the conclusion of his remarks toasted Prince 
Henry and presented him to the banqueters. As the Prince rose to 
speak the hall rang with deafening applause and the orchestra burst 
into "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow!" The Prince read his speech 
slowly. He said:- — 

"Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen: I am fully aware of the fact 
that I am the guest and in the presence of the representatives of the 
press of the United States, and in particular the guest of the New 
Yorker Staats-Zeitung, both of which I wish to thank for the kind 
invitation and reception I have met with to-night. . . . Undoubtedly 
the press of our day is a factor, if not a power, which may not be 
neglected, and which I should Hke to compare with ever so many 
submarine mines, which blow up in many cases in the most unexpected 
manner; but your own naval history teaches us not to mind mines, 
should they ever be in our way. The language used on the memo- 
rable occasion was stronger than ever I would venture to use to-night. 
I need only mention the name of Farragut. Another comparison 
might be more to your taste, gentlemen, and is, in fact, more com- 
plimentary; it is one which His Majesty the Emperor used before 
I left. He said: 'You will meet many members of the press, and I 
wish you therefore to keep in mind that the press men in the United 
States rank almost with my generals in command.' 

"It will interest you, I know, to learn something about the nature 
of my mission to this country. The facts are as follows: His Majesty, 
the Emperor, has minutely studied the recent and rapid development 
of the United States, and His Majesty is well aware of the fact that 
yours is a fast-moving nation. His sending me to this country may, 
therefore, be looked upon as an act of friendship and courtesy, with 
the one desire of promoting most friendly relations between Germany 
and the United States. Should you be willing to grasp a proffered 
hand, you will find such a one on the other side of the Atlantic 
Ocean." 

When Prince Henry sat down, Melville E. Stone read a cable de- 
spatch to the Kaiser giving him cordial greetings from the newspapers 
of the United States, and amid loud applause it was moved to send 
it. Then Ex-Postmaster-General Charles E. Smith described how 
much the United States owed Germany for her inspiration in music, 
poetry, art, and thought. The last speaker was Editor Charles W. 
Knapp of the St. Louis Republic. He declared that the Kaiser ranked 
high as a preserver of international peace and friendship, notwith- 
standing his rapid building up of the German navy. At quarter of 
twelve Prince Henry and his retinue left the banquet hall, bowing 
repeatedly to prolonged cheering. 



Prince 
Henry of 
Prussians 
Speech 
at the 
Waldorf- 
Astoria 



The 

Kaiser's 
Message to 
America 



20 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

Dinner to A notable dinner at Delmonico's was the annual banquet of the New 

President England Society on December 22, 1877, at which President Hayes 

Hayes at was the guest of honor. The decorations were most artistic. Among 

Delmomco's those present were President Hayes; Secretary of State William M. 

Evarts; Presidents Porter of Yale and Eliot of Harvard; W. W. 

Story, the artist; Rev. James Freeman Clarke of Boston; General 

Horace Porter; Professor O. C. Marsh of Yale, President of the 

American Association for the Advancement of Science; ex-Governor 

Morgan; Robert L. Stuart, President of the American Museum of 

Natural History; Governor Horace Fairbanks of Vermont; Marshall 

Jewell; Edward L. Pierce; and Dr. Henry W. Bellows. 

Secretary of State Evarts was the first speaker. He answered the 
toast, "The Day We Celebrate," speaking at first with a droll humor, 
which roused the company to merriment, and then concluding in a 
more serious vein, praising New England and emphasizing as the three 
most important questions confronting the nation — the public peace, 
the public faith, and the public service. President Hayes spoke very 
briefly, merely thanking his hosts for the reception tendered him and 
saying that he would not touch upon national questions, as it was 
contrary to the rule upon such occasions. 

Rev. James Freeman Clarke made a long address, lauding Boston 

and emphasizing the fact that the ancestors of those present had not 

been influenced even by hard times to settle their debts at the rate of 

ninety cents on the dollar. Toasts to Yale and Harvard were answered 

by Presidents Porter and Eliot. Both good-naturedly "knocked" 

the other's institution and showed the contrast between them, but 

agreed that passing years were making the two universities more and 

more alike. President Eliot declared that if the national university 

suggested by President Hayes was to be controlled by a Congress 

"which knew little Latin and less Greek, and was not yet convinced 

of the unchangeableness of the laws of arithmetic," he was strongly 

opposed to it. 

Presidents President Porter cleverly "got back" at Dr. Eliot for his "knocks" at 

Eliot and Yale, saying that in the old days "when they found a man in Boston 

Porter ^ Httle too bad to live with, they sent him to Rhode Island, and when 

^exchange t}^gy found him a little too good to live with, they sent him to Connecti- 

Lomplt- ^^^^ where, among other things, he founded Yale College; while 

people of average respectability and goodness were allowed to remain 

in Massachusetts Bay, where, looking into each other's faces constantly, 

they contracted the habit of always praising each other with special 

emphasis — a habit which they have not altogether outgrown." 

"The Church" was responded to by Mr. W. W. Story. He made 
no reference to the church, but declared that Salem, not Boston, 
should have the most honor among the Alassachusetts cities, for she 
had produced a Hawthorne, a Story, and a Rogers to grace the fields 
of literature, jurisprudence, and sculpture. He also spoke of America's 
rapid advance in the arts, begun in recent years. America's progress 
in science was described by Professor O. C. Marsh, and then, for a 



FIFTH AVENUE E \' E N T S 



21 



change, General Horace Porter with his dehghtful humor convulsed 
the company with side-splitting mirth. 

The reception to General Grant at the Union League Club on 
October 23, 1880, was one of the most brilliant social affairs in the 
club's history. The club-house was filled to overflowing, and many 
famous men were present, among them Messrs. Joseph H. Choate, 
William Dowd, Peter Cooper, Chauncey M. Depew, General Chester 

A. Arthur, General Adam Badeau, General Horace Porter, Colonel 
Fred Grant, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and Rev. Dr. Newman. 

The reception took place in the theatre of the club-house. General 
Grant entered with Mr. Choate, followed by Generals Badeau and 
Arthur, and Colonel Grant, through a door covered with flags. The 
party passed quickly through the crowd to the anteroom, where 
President Fish, General Grant's former Secretary of State, was wait- 
ing. The two shook hands warmly, and President Fish said, "General, 
allow me to welcome you to the club." At once there was a general 
handshaking and buzz of congratulations and greetings. There 
was no formal address of welcome; everything was delightfully 
informal. 

A feature of the evening was the entrance of the aged Thurlow 
Weed, famous Abolitionist and Republican statesman. Two club 
members supported the tall, bowed figure of the octogenarian, and 
his appearance was the signal for a deafening ovation, which did not 
die away until he had been introduced to General Grant. Another 
Grand Old Man present who received a hearty reception was Samuel 

B. Ruggles. Following the reception, supper was served. 

The Saturday Night Club gave a dinner to General Grant and 
Roscoe Conkling, May 5, 1883, at the Hotel Brunswick, which is 
peculiarly interesting to Americans to-day because of the remarks 
concerning Mexico made by the Ex-President and Mr. Conkling. 

Besides General Grant and Mr. Conkling, the guests were Senator 
J. N. Camden, Charles A. Sumner, Professor Doremus, Henry Have- 
meyer, Carl Formes, Charles F. March, James S. T. Stranahan, 
H. F. Dimock, Howard Carroll, Judge Edgar M. Cullen, and Douglas 
Taylor. Mr. Clark Bell presided. Mr. Formes sang two baritone 
solos after the repast was finished, one of them being in Grant's honor 
and entitled "The Warrior's Song," and then Mr. Bell offered a 
toast to the distinguished guest. General Grant said in part: — 

"I have been conversing to-night on the cultivation of friendly 
relations with our neighbors. I have thought of our treatment of a 
neighbor capable of an amazing power of development and possessed 
of great resources — Mexico. I trust that this nation will take this 
neighbor under its wing and cultivate the closest relations 
with it, and make its people believe that we are its best friends. It 
is our interest to do so; for, taking this continent as far south as our 
neighbor's lines extend, we have every element of prosperity above 
the soil or dug out of it. If we are friends, we shall be so strong 
that if in future a war should arise we could shut ourselves in our 



Grant 
Reception 
at Union 
League Club 



Grant- 
Conkling 
Dinner at 
the Hotel 
Brunswick 




From a photograph. Courtesy of McClure's Magazine. 

GENERAL GRANT AS HE APPEARED AT THE CLOSE OF THE 

CIVIL WAR. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



23 



shell and be self-sustaining long enough for the people outside to learn 
to do without us and we without them." 

Mr. Conkling spoke next. He declared that it was right and proper 
that close intimacy should exist between the United States and 
Mexico, and that the commercial, political, and social interests of the 
two countries ought to be made one. He suggested that General 
Grant might become the leader of a great movement to aid Mexico 
in developing its resources and in forming a commercial union with 
the United States, and said that it would be a greater honor than any 
that the General had yet gained if he should be the means of bringing 
about a Mexican-American alliance. Among the other speakers were 
Courtlandt Palmer, Professor Doremus, and Messrs. Carroll and 
Stranahan. 

A most brilliant social affair was the reception to President Arthur 
given by the Union League Club on January 23, 1884. Nearly two 
thousand guests were present, two orchestras furnished by Bernstein 
rendered splendid music, and the luxurious club-house looked like 
a wonderful garden with its banks of ferns, tropical plants, lilies, 
tulips, roses, primroses, and azaleas, while banners, streamers, and 
national and state flags were draped and festooned upon the walls. 

President Arthur arrived soon after nine o'clock. With him were 
Secretaries Teller and Folger of his cabinet and others. The orchestra 
struck up "Hail to the Chief" as the presidential party entered the 
building. Mr. Arthur shook hands with the reception committee, 
and then was escorted upstairs to the ball-room by President William 
M. Evarts of the club. The President stood with Messrs. Jesse Selig- 
man and Salem H. Wales on his right, and Mr. and Mrs. Evarts, 
Secretaries Teller and Folger, and Attorney-General and Mrs. 
Brewster on his left, and for an hour shook hands with the stream of 
people that filed past him, his never-failing courtesy, affability, and 
dignity making a most favorable impression. 

It was a remarkable gathering of distinguished men from business, 
professional, political, judicial, religious, military, and social life, 
including, among a host of others, Dr. Lyman Abbott, Mayor Edson, 
General and Mrs. George B. McClellan, Whitelaw Reid, Henry Ward 
Beecher, Parke Godwin, Mr. and Mrs. John Bigelow, Cyrus W. Field, 
Lionel Sackville West, the British Minister^ Elihu Root, and Reginald 
H. Newton. The crowd was so great that it was almost impossible 
to move in some parts of the building, and outside on Fifth Avenue 
a solid line of carriages stretched for five blocks. 

Supper was served at midnight, and not until then was there much 
chance to dance. One of the features of the reception was the unique 
confectionery pieces. On a great table in the main dining room were 
twelve baskets of rare flowers, two seals of the United States, and four 
fortresses garrisoned by soldiers, made of confectionery. A tall 
monument supported statuettes of the President and his cabinet, and 
in gleaming white sugar stood a beautiful model of the Capitol. An 
interesting work of art was a twenty-four- foot model of the Brooklyn 



Reception to 

President 

Arthur at 

Union 

League 

Club 



Dis- 
tinguished 
Men 
present 



24 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

Bridge, with the President and troops crossing as on the opening 
day. The ices, game, and other dishes were also arranged in 
artistic designs. Many people found their chief enjoyment in the 
art gallery, which was filled with choice paintings loaned for the 
occasion. The gorgeous dresses of the women, gleaming white stat- 
uary, beautiful masses of flowers, shining bronze and marble, rich 
paintings, bright uniforms, carved woods, and mosaic panels, all 
combined to make a dazzling spectacle impossible to forget. 

The banquet to Lieutenant A. W. Greely, explorer of the Arctic, 

tendered by the Lotos Club on January i6, 1886, drew together a 

hundred and fifty gentlemen. 

Dinner to Vice-President General Horace Porter presided, President Whitelaw 

Lieutenant Reid being unavoidably absent. Besides Lieutenant Greely, Chief 

Greely Engineer Melville and Commander Schley, who headed the expedition 
to relieve Greely, were guests of the club, and among the merry party 
were Colonel C. McK, Leoser; Robert Kirby; Dr. Pardee; Chief 
Justice C. P. Daly; Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore; Frank Robinson; Colo- 
nel Thomas W. Knot; James Bates; C. H. Webb; George Masset; 
James Heston; Henry Gilsey, the philanthropist; Herman Oelrichs; 
Douglas Taylor; Chandos Fulton; E. H. Scott; and J. O'Sullivan. 

At seven o'clock the dinner began, amid a buzz of talk and laughter 
and hearty praise for the bravery and unflinching perseverance of 
Greely and his men. Finally the cigars were passed around and 
General Porter presented the guest of honor. Lieutenant Greely 
rose amid wild cheering. At the heartiness of the reception his serious 
face broke into smiles, and he stood kindly smiling through his spec- 
tacles until the applause died away. Then simply and frankly, with 
at times a pathos that moved his hearers, he told the story of his 
expedition to the Far North and explained the reasons for every 

Greely action. He declared that he regarded Arctic exploration as a success 
tells his when eleven nations combined to offer the lives of their men for the 
Story cause of science. Only $25,000 was available for the expenses of the 
expedition; not enough, he said, but with true American willingness 
to make the best of unfavorable conditions they set out to make 
their work a success. He spoke of England's mighty navy, and, 
while the rapt audience applauded, declared that the American navy 
probably equalled that of England in men and officers if not in number 
of ships. He described the sufferings of his men with touching ten- 
derness, lauded their noble spirit under adversity, and graphically 
told the harrowing story of the dreary months passed at Cape Sabine. 
In conclusion he declared, while the company rose and wildly cheered 
him, that in the African forests, the Lena Delta, and at Cape Sabine 
Americans had proved themselves the peers of any nation on the globe. 
When he sat down Frank Robinson led the enthusiastic company 
in "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," while Patrick Gilmore merrily 
beat an accompaniment with spoon and plate. Then came Justice 
Daly with an interesting speech, followed by Commander Schley and 
other speakers. Later two master fun-makers were added to the 




From a photograph. 



Collection of Charles L. Ritzmann. 



HENRY M. STANLEY. 



26 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

party in the persons of Messrs. Thorne and Billington, "Poo-bah" 
and "Ko-Ko" of the Fifth Avenue "Mikado" company. At a late 
hour the guests departed, having had a jovial as well as an instructive 
evening. 
Banquet to Henry M. Stanley, the famous African explorer, was tendered a 
Henry M. reception November 27, 1886, at the Lotus Club on Fifth Avenue. 
Stanley Whitelaw Reid presided. It was a night of rejoicing and good-fellow- 
ship, for it was on that day that Stanley had returned to New York, 
after over a dozen years' absence, fresh from completing Livingstone's 
explorations in Central Africa. 

The explorer sat at Mr. Reid's right hand, with Chauncey M. 
Depew upon his right. At the left of Mr. Reid were Horace Porter, 
Lieutenant Greely, and Algernon S. Sullivan. Some of the others 
present were General E. F. Winslow, Henry Gillig, Colonel Thomas W. 
Knox, Excise Commissioner W. S. Andrews, James M. Francis, 
Justice Gedney, Abraham Kling, Lieutenant Hickey, George Fawcett 
Rowe, Colonel Richard Lathers, Bruce Crane, Major Pond, General 
Alfred Townsend, and Daniel E. Bandmann. 

President Reid introduced Stanley in a warmly congratulatory 
speech, and when the explorer rose to thank the club for the honor 
shown him he was most heartily applauded. For over half an hour 
he held the rapt attention of the company with an account of the 
work being done by King Leopold's government in the Congo, and 
told of the vast expanse of African territory waiting to be opened to 
Remi- civilization and to the world's trade. He spoke in a fluent, easy, and 
mscences most graphic manner, and the club members and guests who packed 
0/ btanley ^^le rooms and corridors listened enthralled by his glowing descriptions 
of the mysterious Dark Continent. He sat down amid an enthu- 
siastic outburst of applause, and Lieutenant Greely, the explorer of 
the frozen North, rising, declared that Stanley's achievements con- 
stituted an epoch in African history, that his devotion would be the 
means of lifting the Dark Continent into the light of civilization and 
Christianity, and that future generations would more fully realize 
the greatness of his work than the present age could do. Greely 
suggested that Stanley should be honored in the Roman way with 
the name of "Stanley Africanus," and the proposal was heartily 
acclaimed. 

Chauncey M. Depew then said: — 

"There have been great explorers, but Stanley is the first to mingle 
frontier romance with history and solid achievements. I welcome 
Stanley. He has shown what a reporter can do. We all know how 
they are the last to leave battlefields and scenes of pestilence, and the 
first to give us the news. Stanley's career typifies the great principle 
in this country that creates greatness out of nothing." 

Horace Porter was the next speaker, others followed, and until late 
into the night the party paid warm tribute to the foremost of African 
explorers. 

One of the most brilliant banquets ever held at Delmonico's was 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



^7 



that given on Deceniber 20, 1889, by the Spanish-American Commer- Pan- 
cial Union to the visiting delegates to the Pan-American Congress. American 
Mayor Hugh J. Grant, Andrew Carnegie, EHhu Root, Horace White, Banquet at 
and Chauncey M. Depew, were some of the prominent Americans Delmonico's 
present, a Hungarian orchestra rendered fine music, rich wines 
flowed in abundance, and the hall was most beautifully decorated. 
South American relations and international arbitration as a preven- 




From a print. Harper's Weekly. 

RECEPTION TO PAN-AMERICAN CONGRESS 
AT THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB. 

tion of war were touched upon in a brilliant address by William M. 
Ivins. 

Portraits of George Washington and Bolivar, the hero-patriot of 
South America, hung upon the walls, from the gallery hung the flag 
of the President of the United States, and around the hall were dis- 
played in a bewildering galaxy of vivid colors the picturesque banners 
of the Spanish-American nations, interspersed with the Stars and 



28 FIFTH A\'ENUE EVENTS 

Stripes. From the ceiling hung a six-foot globe bearing on a field 
of evergreen the American continents outlined in a design of flowers, 
and silk streamers stretched from it away to all corners of the hall, 
which were filled with palms, ferns, and plants. The menu was 
a beautiful work of art, with a cover of tinted silk, exquisite de- 
signs in water colors, and the coats-of-arms of the American re- 
publics. 

Mr. William H. T. Hughes was chairman, his perfect mastery of 
both English and Spanish making the selection ideal. Sefior F. C. C. 
Zegarra of Peru sat at his right and Mayor Grant at his left. Rev. 
Dr. Charles H. Hall said grace. A charming incident occurred at the 
conclusion of the meal. Bearing armfuls of flowers, the dark-eyed 
womenfolk of the delegates poured on to the orchestra platform and 
merrily cast showers of beautiful blossoms down on the heads of the 
banqueters. A lively scene ensued. Cheer after cheer rang out 
from the delighted men, who caught up handfuls of roses from the 
tables and tossed them up to the gallery, while laughter and applause 
echoed through the hall. 

The address of welcome was delivered by Mr. Hughes, who spoke 
first in English and then in Spanish. Sefior Zegarra answered. Mr. 
Hughes, in toasting Mayor Grant, presented him with a gold badge 
as a token of the visitors' gratification at his courtesy, and the Mayor, 
in replying, dwelt on the cosmopolitanism of New York and other 
large cities. The toast, "Our Next Neighbor," was responded to 
by Senor Matias Romero of Mexico. Other toasts and their respond- 
ents were: — 

"International American Commerce," William M. Ivins; "Inter- 
national Justice," Elihu Root; "Our Homes," Rev. Dr. John R. 
Paxton; "American — All Republican," John B, Henderson. 
Chauncey M. Depew spoke from the gallery, and Judge Jose Alfonso 
of Chili made an address. Pan-Americanism was the keynote of the 
speeches. Mr. Henderson urged the establishment of an international 
court to settle disputes between nations, declaring it was the surest 
means of securing universal peace, and Mr. Ivins said: — 
William M. "We must forget that such a thing as war is possible. Let us 
Ivi?is on recognize that modern society exists on industrial bases, on the com- 
Pa7i- mon brotherhood, and not the common enmity, of man. As we have 
Amencan shown the world a successful democracy, let us teach it by our own 
Relations example that, as between American states, war for the future is abol- 
ished. Let us, as the active initiators, organize our half of the world, 
so far as international relations are concerned, in such a way that 
all international disputes shall be submitted to arbitration, just as 
in each of our countries disputes between individuals are submitted 
to the courts." 

Three days before, the delegates had been tendered a reception 
at the Union League Club which was attended by many distinguished 
statesmen, representatives of the army and navy, clergymen, profes- 
sional and business men. Among those present were Elihu Root, 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



29 



Union 

League Club 

to 

Sherman 



Chauncey M. Depew, General William T. Sherman, Theodore Roose- 
velt, Andrew Carnegie, William M. Evarts, James G. Blaine, Joseph H. 
Choate, Benjamin F. Tracy, Hugh J. Grant, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and 
Horace Porter. The reception was held in the theatre-hall of the 
Club House, which was magnificently decorated. Dancing followed, 
and_ supper was served at eleven o'clock. The whole affair was 
carried out on a most brilliant scale and was greatly enjoyed by all 
present. 

General William Tecumseh Sherman was tendered a memorable 
reception at the Union League Club on April 17, 1890. The old 
soldier was seventy years old on the 8th of February preceding, and Reception 
the club had wished to give him a birthday party then, but his other General 
engagements prevented. 

The club-house was beautifully decorated. American flags be- 
decked the entrance lobby and main stairway; everywhere were stream- 
ers, banners, and festoons of bunting; before the library windows 
were banks of flowers, and ferns and geraniums covered the mantel. 
Red, white, and blue flowers were banked before the stage, which 
was draped with the Stars and Stripes. A portrait of General Sherman 
in uniform, painted by Daniel Huntington in 1875, occupied a place 
of honor, draped with flags and a victor's wreath. A body of regulars 
of the Fifth United States Artillery lined the stairway leading from 
the lobby to the reception hall, every man in parade uniform and with 
fixed bayonet. 

General Sherman arrived promptly at half-past eight. Messrs. 
James Otis and J. Seaver Page and General S. Van Vliet met him in 
the lobby and after a cordial greeting escorted him up the stairway, 
while the regulars came to present arms with a rattle and clash that 
made the old hero start. He was conducted to a place beneath his 
own picture and there, surrounded by President Chauncey M. Depew 
of the club, Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble, and General 
Van Vliet, greeted for over two hours an almost interminable line of 
admirers and friends. About seven hundred invitations had been 
issued. A noteworthy assemblage it was, the army, navy, clergy, 
bench, business, professional, and political life all being represented. 
Among the guests were Vice-President Levi P. Morton, Secretary of Prominent 
the Interior John W. Noble, Senators William M. Evarts and Nelson Guests 
W. Aldrich, Generals John M. Schofield, A. W. Greely, O. O. Howard, 
J. C. Breckenridge, Horace Porter, Forsyth, Grosvenor, and Nelson 
A. Miles, and foreign diplomats from Russia, Chili, Brazil, and 
Peru. 

The reception over, the weary old General sat down to supper at 
a table with President Depew, Secretary Noble, Senator Evarts, and 
Generals Porter, Van Vliet, Grosvenor, and Forsyth. Speech-making 
on such occasions was contrary to the custom of the Union League, 
but such a storm of approval burst when Rev. John R. Paxton rose 
and begged that the gathering might hear the old hero, that President 
Depew bowed to the demand. 



30 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

Mr. Depew in his introductory remarks lauded General Sherman's 
career and declared that the club was delighted to do him honor. 
Speaking of the March to the Sea, he said: "It was a feat which 
captured the imagination of the country and of the world, because it 
was both the poetry of war and the supreme fact of the triumph over 
the Rebellion. Sixty-live and Ninety — the years have passed by with 
many questions coming up which have divided the men who stood 
together at that period and who are to-day politically in hostile camps. 
But the guest of '65 finds the same greeting, no matter what camps 
the men are in to-day, that he did then." 

A deafening roar of cheers greeted General Sherman. Clad in 
full uniform and wearing his sword, the old commander was a most 
imposing and martial figure. His speech was partly humorous, 
partly serious, and was punctuated with laughter and applause. 
Gen. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart," he began, "for this 
Shermaii's response to Mr. Depew's handsome tribute to me. Every man loves 
Speech his neighbor nearly as well as himself. Dr. Paxton well knows that 
it won't do to be too good in this world, for the millennium would 
come when we were not prepared for it. . . . The first way to reform 
the community is to reform yourselves. But you have to take the 
world as it is. It is a good world. It is the best we have now. I 
don't see any who are anxious to depart from it. Of those who are 
gone, we sing their praises aloud. They don't hear them. I am will- 
ing to have a little during my life. . . . Let us all continue doing our 
own work in our own spheres, trusting to the common Master, who 
will reconcile all troubles and guide us on to the future, which I am 
sure will be better than the past. Let us labor to make the people 
of the United States not only the most prosperous, but the most 
contented people on the face of the globe." 

When the old General finished, Mr. Depew jumped to his feet. 
"Gentlemen," he called, "may we give him a reception on his cen- 
tennial!" And enthusiastic cheers echoed through the rooms. 

St. Thomas's Church was the scene of a notable Easter wedding on 
April 6, 1896, when Ex-President Benjamin Harrison was wedded to 
Mrs. Mary Scott Lord Dimmick. A wedding as private and simple 
as possible was desired, so the hour of the ceremony was not disclosed 
to the public; but in some way the news leaked out, and when Mr. 
Harrison reached the church soon after five o'clock a crowd was assem- 
bled on Fifth Avenue outside the church, requiring a hundred police- 
men to keep the curious ones at a respectable distance. 
Harrison- Only thirty-six persons, including two newspaper men, were ad- 
Dimmick mitted to the ceremony. Admission was by cards written and signed 
Wedding by Mr. Harrison's secretary, Mr. E. F. Tibbott, which said merely, 

"Admit to St. Thomas' Church, Monday afternoon, 

April 6." Mrs. Dimmick was a niece of Mr. Harrison's first wife. 
Mr. Tibbott and General Daniel M. Ramsdell were the ushers and 
received the guests as they arrived. 

The floral decorations were centred about the altar, and, while 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



31 



simple and unpretentious, were arranged most artistically and effect- 
ively. The color scheme was green and white, Easter lilies, tropical 
plants, wild smilax, palms, and Genista trees, making a beautiful 
ensemble. Above the altar was a Latin cross of lilies. 

The organist. Professor George W. Warren, rendered some prelimi- 
nary music, and at half-past five the doors were opened at the middle 
aisle and the ushers appeared side by side. Rev. Dr. J. Wesley Brown, 
the rector, came from the vestry garbed in a white cassock, entered 




From a print. Harper's Weekly. 

MARRIAGE OF PRESIDENT HARRISON TO MRS. 
DIMMICK AT ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH. 

the sanctuary, and knelt in prayer for a moment. The strains of 
"Lohengrin" pealed forth from the organ, and Mr. Harrison with 
Ex-Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy, his best man, appeared 
in the vestry door at the left of the altar. 

For a moment there was a slightly awkward pause while the guests 
craned their necks at the rear door, looking for the bride. Then she 



32 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

appeared behind the ushers, escorted by Lieutenant Parker, U. S. N., 
her brother-in-law. Instead of a bouquet she carried a prayer-book 
of white silk with a gold cross embossed on its cover. Mr. Harrison 
descended the chancel steps to meet her, and together they went up 
the stairs and knelt at the centre of the altar, General Tracy and 
Lieutenant Parker following. 

Dr. Brown read the service to the soft music of the intermezzo 
from "Cavalleria Rusticana" and pronounced the couple man and 
wife. Lieutenant Parker giving away the bride. Mrs. Dimmick spoke 
in clear and musical tones, but Mr. Harrison's voice could hardly be 
heard. At the conclusion of the ceremony Dr. Brown shook hands 
with bride and groom and congratulated them heartily, and then the 
couple walked down the centre aisle while the organist played the 
wedding march from "Tannhauser." Entering a waiting carriage, 
they were driven to the home of Air. Gifford Pinchot at No. 2 Gramercy 
Park, where a reception was held. At its conclusion the bridal couple 
left for Indianapolis. 
Li Hung Li Hung Chang, the famous Chinese statesman, subtlest of diplo- 
Chang's mats and shrewdest of ministers, and one of the greatest men whom 
Ftsit the Orient has produced, came on August 28, 1896, to New York as 
special ambassador from the Chinese Emperor. He stopped at the 
Waldorf Hotel on Fifth Avenue. 

General Thomas H. Ruger was sent by President Cleveland to 
welcome the great Chinaman to America. The latter received the 
welcoming delegation in his cabin on board the steamship St. Louis 
in New York Bay. His appearance was most striking. Over six 
feet tall, with a slight stoop, he wore the bright yellow jacket denoting 
his high rank, a viceroy's cap with a four-eyed peacock feather at- 
tached to it by amber fastenings, and a beautifully colored skirt of 
rich material. His finger nails were polished till they shone, a huge 
diamond flashed on his right hand, and he peered out benignantly 
over the tops of a pair of gold-bowed spectacles. Dignified in bearing, 
Li's he looked every inch the statesman and scholar. His gracious manner 
Appearance won him friends during his stay in New York, and his indefatigable 
propensity for asking questions — some of them rather embarrassing 
to those questioned, as when he politely inquired the ages of the 
ladies whom he met and the salaries of the officials who entertained 
him — aroused much merriment. He spoke in a very low voice, and 
while at times appearing to notice little, no doubt with true Oriental 
inscrutability took in everything worth noticing. 

The city gave him an enthusiastic reception. Cheering crowds 
lined Fifth Avenue as the aged Prime Minister with his numerous 
suite was driven to the Waldorf Hotel, escorted by United States cav- 
alry as a guard of honor. 

The Waldorf was handsomely decorated, and over it fluttered from 
a lofty pole the golden imperial banner of the ancient empire, with its 
great blue dragon snapping at a crimson ball. While at the hotel three 
Chinese cooks in Li's retinue prepared their lord's meals. His imme- 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



33 




From a photograph. Collection of Charles L. Ritzmann. 

LI HUNG CHANG AS HE APPEARED WHEN HE VISITED NEW YORK. 

diate suite comprised eighteen Chinese of rank, and there was a staff 
of twenty-two servants, including a barber, five valets, and three 
cooks. Many of the visitors were tall, burly men, splendid speci- 
mens of their race, and very little escaped their keen, restless black 
eyes. 



34 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

Reception The following day, August 29, Li was received by President Cleveland 

to Li at at the home of Hon. W. C. Whitney, Ex-Secretary of the Navy, Fifth 

Ex-Secretary Avenue and 57th Street. The reception took place in Mr. Whitney's 

of the Navy ballroom and lasted less than half an hour. The President stood 

Whitney s beneath a cluster of Chinese flags, with a gilded American eagle in 

the centre, and with him were the Secretaries of State, War, and the 

Treasury, the Attorney-General, and other officials. Mr. Richard 

Olney, Secretary of State, presented the great mandarin to President 

Cleveland, and Li delivered to him his credentials from the Emperor 

of China. A brief exchange of addresses followed, and the meeting 

ended. 

In the evening a banquet was given in Li's honor at the Waldorf, 
by former American diplomats in China and others who had lived 
there. The great dragon banner and the Stars and Stripes adorned 
the dining hall, with plants, flowers, and streamers of many colors. 
The tables ran around the walls, and the whole centre of the room 
was like a blooming garden with green palms, rhododendrons, and 
golden-hued ferns banked in a beautiful mass of verdure. Beside each 
guest's plate lay a boutonniere of roses. 

Li desired to retire early, so the banquet began at six o'clock. Hon. 
George F. Seward, ex-Minister to China, presided, sitting opposite 
Li, who sat between John E. Ward, also ex-Minister to China, and 
Rev. W. A. P. Martin, President of Hamlin University, Peking. The 
Chinese Minister, Yang Yu, and General Thomas H. Ruger sat on 
Mr. Ward's right, while on Li's left were General Nelson A. Miles and 
Hon. John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State. Li ate but little of the 
sumptuous spread, and when he had finished smoked a cigar in genuine 
Occidental style. Mr. Ward began the speech-making with toasts 
to the Emperor of China, the President of the United States, and Li 
Hung Chang. He was followed by Mr. Seward, who in the principal 
address of the evening lauded Li's long and distinguished service to 
his country and his many achievements as a statesman. 

Li's interpreter read the Prime Minister's answer, which was, in 
part, as follows: — 
Li's "Your Excellencies and Gentlemen: In acknowledging the cordial 
Speech welcome and kind entertainment offered to me by the American 
government and its citizens, I find it impossible to refrain from ex- 
pressing my gratitude and thankfulness to the great nation which 
represents the best type of the modern civilization of the Western 
world. During my official career for the last forty years in China 
I have been brought in constant contact with the most accomplished 
scholars, soldiers, sailors, statesmen, theologians, and merchants of 
the West. I have been, therefore, convinced that the Western 
modern civilization, though, superficially speaking, difi"erent from 
our own, will prove in the world of evolution as the fittest to sur- 
vive." 

Li left the dining hall when his answer was completed, about half- 
past eight, and soon retired for his night's rest. Rev. Dr. S. L. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



35 



Baldwin, Secretary of the Methodist Board of Missions, and Rev, Dr. 
Martin spoke, and were followed by Ex-Secretary of State Foster, 
who told how as Viceroy and Prime Minister Li had ever been the 
friend of the United States. China's friendly relations with America 
were dwelt upon by Dr. J. B. Angell, and Generals Horace Porter 
and Miles spoke. 

On Sunday afternoon, August 30, the Prime Minister visited the Li at 
tomb of his old friend, Ex-President Grant. A detail of mounted Grant's 
police acted as escort and Colonel Grant, Generals Porter and Ruger Tomb 
and others accompanied him. A great crowd of some 20,000 people 
gathered about the tomb. Li stepped from his carriage into his chair 
of state and was carried into the tomb by four burly policemen. 
There was a sharp ring and clash of steel as a detachment of regulars 
presented arms as the great man was borne past, and at the head of 
the stairway leading to the tomb Li left his chair and with slow and 
stately tread entered his friend's last resting place. A beautiful gar- 
land of bay leaves tied with a broad yellow ribbon and dotted with 
white and mauve orchids lay on the sarcophagus. It was the gift of 
Li. He stood over a minute with head sunk upon his breast, evi- 
dently filled with deep emotion. Then, with long silences between his 
questions, he asked how the tomb was guarded, how General Grant 
died, whether his end was painful, and inquired into the details of 
the tomb's construction, even asking how the grounds were to be 
graded and the walks laid out. He showed great surprise when General 
Porter told him that 80,000 persons had contributed toward building 
the tomb. 

There was silence for some moments, and then Li said solemnly 
that his visit to the hero's tomb was one of the chief things he had 
had in mind when planning his visit to America, and that he had 
thought of it continually on the journey. General Porter replied that 
Li's contribution of $500 toward the tomb, one of the first received, 
had won him the deep gratitude of the American people. Another 
silence, and then Li turned and slowly left the tomb. The iron gate 
swung to behind him, but on the platform outside, the great Oriental 
faced about and halted. A deathly hush fell upon the thousands 
gathered around the tomb. Every head was uncovered save Li's. 
For several moments his tall, gaunt, impressive figure stood motion- 
less, outlined against the setting sun. Then slowly, reverently, the 
venerable statesman bent his head and body and bowed low before 
the tomb till the peacock feather on his viceroy's cap nearly swept 
the ground. Thus did the Grand Old Man of China say farewell to 
the sleeping victor of a hundred battles. 

Another notable incident of Li's visit was his reception of a delega- 
tion of thirty representatives of American missionary societies. He 
received them in a corner room of the Waldorf, looking out on Fifth 
Avenue, seated on a divan smoking a silver water-pipe, with Ex- 
Secretary of State Foster on one side and an interpreter on the other. 
Through their spokesman. Rev. Dr. F. F. Ellenwood, the missionaries 



36 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

Li thanked Li for his support of their interests in China and congratu- 
commends lated him upon his progressive ideas. He replied in a friendly manner, 
}he commending the work of the missionaries, whose disinterested motives 
Mission- j^g s^ij }-^e fuHy appreciated, and declaring his particular gratification 
anes ^^ ^-^^^ good work done by the medical colleges. He dignifiedly de- 
fended his adherence to the faith of Confucius, saying that Christianity 
and Confucianism had much in common, both teaching ideal truths, 
the golden rule being expressed in both, in a positive form in one 
faith, in a negative in the other. He concluded by declaring that 
the great curse of the Chinese people was the use of and trade in 
opium. 

The rest of the day Li spent in visiting various places of interest 
in the city, Chinatown among them. September 2, the last day of his 
visit, he spent in Brooklyn. A banquet in his honor was given at 
Delmonico's in the evening, but so tired was the old statesman by 
the whirl of functions he had attended that he did not go to the 
banquet, but sent a member of his suite to represent him. 

PARADES AND FUNERAL PROCESSIONS ON FIFTH 

AVENUE 

An aspect of Fifth Avenue which the nation at large has not seen is 
Fifth Avenue as a national parade ground. One of the greatest 
parades was the Dewey parade in 1899, when the hero of the Spanish- 
American War was tendered a brilliant welcome, and viewed from 
a stand that faced the Worth Monument the procession in his 
honor. 

Industry and patriotism have, also, received their share of recog- 
nition in the impressive processions that have been formed as an 
exemplification of what united organization can do. Funeral dirges 
and solemn corteges have cast their pall many times over Fifth 
Avenue. Some of America's greatest men have been borne between 
silent masses down the famous thoroughfare to their last resting- 
places. Along it the body of Abraham Lincoln passed between rows 
of silent, bareheaded people, and was escorted to the Hudson River 
depot, whence it was taken to Illinois. The remains of Admiral 
Farragut, of Horace Greeley, of Ulysses S. Grant, of Chester A. 
Dewey Arthur, and of General Sherman have received the homage of a people 
Parade massed on Fifth Avenue. 

The parade in honor of Admiral Dewey's victory at Manila moved 
down Fifth Avenue from 59th Street on September 30, 1899, passed 
under the Dewey Arch, erected in the Admiral's honor at W^orth 
Square, and on to Washington Square. 

Major-General Charles F. Roe and staff led the procession, followed 
by Sousa's Band and the sailors of Dewey's flagship, the Olympia. 
Then came Admiral Dewey himself, seated beside Mayor Van Wyck 
in a carriage, at the head of a line of carriages containing Governor 
Theodore Roosevelt, Rear Admirals Schley and Sampson, General 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



37 



Nelson A. Miles, Senator Chauncey M. Depew, governors, naval 
officers, and many other prominent men. 

After the carriages came West Point Cadets, detachments of United 
States regulars. New York national guardsmen and naval militia, 
troops from fourteen other states, Union and Confederate veterans, 
and veterans of the Spanish War. Admiral Dewey and the Olyvipia Thunders 
bluejackets received deafening applause, while the crowds packing of 
the sides of the Avenue went wild over Schley, the hero of Santiago Applause 
Bay, and cheered loudly for Governor Roosevelt. The cheers were ^^^^^ . 
silenced for a moment when Admiral Dewey caught sight of his -^""^^''^^ 
relatives in a stand before the Waldorf-Astoria and, standing, waved Tth 
his hat to them while they stood and toasted him with upraised "Olympia" 
glasses. ... Sailors 

At 34th Street the Olympia jackies halted and drew up at the side 
of the Avenue while the Admiral left his carriage with a party of dis- 
tinguished officers and entered the reviewing stand that faced the 
Worth Monument. For four hours the gray-haired hero stood 
watching the brilliant procession that flowed past him, Sampson on 
his right and Schley on his left, with Generals Miles and Merritt and 
a group of naval officers, including Captains Chadwick, Coghlan, 
Woods, Wildes, Lamberton, and Dyer. Dewey was very punctilious 
in acknowledging the salutes given him and in saluting the flag, and 
delayed accepting a bouquet from a girl until he had saluted the 
Stars and Stripes just then approaching at the head of a regiment. 
Roosevelt reviewed the New York troops and then hurried back to 
his rooms in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, greeted on the way with shouts 
of "Here's to you, Teddy!" and "Long life to the Rough Rider!" 
The "Fighting Tenth" Pennsylvania Infantry, fresh from the Philip- 
pines, received a great ovation. 

An incident commented upon at the time was the high price paid 
for positions of vantage. Stands were built at many places along 
the Avenue, and seats sold at big prices. One room in a house on 
the Avenue near 26th Street was hired for the afternoon for ^500, 
and $300 was paid for other rooms on the Avenue having only one 
window. Speculators offered the owner of one four-story building 
on the Avenue $3,000 for the use of his windows. 

The Hudson-Fulton Celebration of September 25-October 9, 1909, Hudson- 
was notable for its beautiful pageants and parades, and for the elab- Fulton 
orateness of the decorations on Fifth Avenue and in other parts of Parade 
the city. 

On September 28 a great civic procession that was noteworthy for 
the number and beauty of its floats, depicting a great variety of his- 
torical incidents, moved down Fifth Avenue to Washington Square. 
The huge reviewing stand was packed with nearly five thousand 
people, and from it Governor Charles E. Hughes, Vice-President 
Sherman, Ex-Judge Parker, Rear Admiral le Pord of the French Navy, 
Admiral von Koester of the German Navy, Rear Admiral Schroeder 
of the American Navy, and many other notables reviewed the parade. 




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39 



Ireland held the place of honor in the procession, for the Ancient Nationali- 
Order of Hibernians and other Irish societies headed the long column, ^i^^ and 
Behind them marched Italian organizations and sturdy Polanders, floats 
and English, Dutch, Scandinavian, French, Scotch, Bohemian, Hun- *^ ^^' 
garian, Syrian, and numberless other societies of many nationalities "^^'^^^ 
were mingled with the hundreds of floats in a bewildering riot of color 
and costume. Tribe after tribe of painted and befeathered warriors 
of the Order of Redmen escorted the floats depicting Indian scenes; 
"The Storming of Stony Point," "Washington Taking the Oath of 
Office," and countless other scenes comprising a veritable panorama 
of history were unfolded by men and women of many races before 
the eager eyes of the vast throng lining the Avenue. Loud applause 
greeted the strangely garbed and oddly mounted Syrians, who by 
some queer chance followed closely behind the float representing 
"The Publishing of the State Constitution"; and even an East Indian 
Rajah would have opened his eyes at the gorgeous costumes of the 
Hungarians, who "discovered a few combinations that made the aurora 
borealis look like a Quaker bonnet"! 

Mayor McClellan, marching on foot with Herman Ridder, was 
cheered loudly all along the line. The division of school children was 
a most interesting feature of the parade. Governor Hughes seemed 
to be very popular with them, and as they passed the reviewing stand 
they gave him cheer after cheer while he smilingly bowed his thanks. 
The sharp bark of college yells winding up with a snap of "Hughes! — 
Sherman!" rang out lustily as the boys from Columbia, New York 
University, and the College of the City of New York swung with 
springy tread past the governor's box. All the time that the parade 
was passing Mr. Hughes stood hat in hand, and his interest and 
pleasure were very evident as he stared eagerly up the Avenue to see 
what was coming next and enthusiastically pointed out the interesting 
floats to Vice-President Sherman. 

One of the most picturesque sights that Fifth Avenue has witnessed Parade of 
was the parade of the League of American Wheelmen on May 28, League of 
1883. About nine hundred bicyclists were in line, representing some w^^^Y'^^ 
forty-five diflFerent clubs of the League, and an interested and applaud- f^"-^^^^^^ 
ing crowd of over ten thousand persons lined the Fifth Avenue side- 
walks four and five deep from i6th to 75th Streets to see the procession 
start. 

Two great tents were pitched on 57th Street to shelter the hundreds 
of machines until the time of the parade, and shortly before two 
o'clock the members of the League, having taken their bicycles from 
the tents, began to form in the shade on the Central Park side of 
Fifth Avenue, the head of the line resting on 60th Street and its rear 
extending nearly to 80th Street. 

Shortly before three o'clock a bugle call rang out, and President 
N. M. Beckwith of the League rode slowly along the line with his 
staff from front to rear. Returning to the head of the column at 
60th Street, he gave the signal, and with a flourish of bugles the nine 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



41 



hundred bicyclists mounted and got into motion. Riding two abreast, 
they pedalled slowly around the circle in Central Park at 59th Street 
and countermarched up the Avenue, while the Seventh Regiment 
Band struck up a lively march. Six mounted policemen led the way, 
then came President Beckwith and his staff, followed by pair after 
pair of uniformed riders. It was a pretty sight as the long line moved 
noiselessly up Fifth Avenue, with flags and streamers fluttering and 
the bright sun flashing upon the glittering nickel of the machines and 
lighting up the multi-colored uniforms of the riders with a blaze of 
vivid color. 

The New \ork Club headed the procession, every man dressed in 
gray with a splash of red and black on his chest and cap. The Massa- 
chusetts delegation followed, with the Boston Ramblers. The Bay 
State men looked about the smartest of any club in line, in their 
handsome dark blue uniforms, white caps, and silver buckles, each 
cyclist wearing a red-and-white carnation in his buttonhole. Then 
came the New Haven Club in white trousers; Philadelphia in blue-black 
with a golden line in the cap; Yonkers, all a-flutter with many-colored 
ribbons; Buckeye in dark green, save for a lonely rider in gray and 
white; Albany in black relieved by a cherry badge; and other 
clubs. 

After East Bridgewater rode a solitary cyclist a-glitter with flashing 
badges, and following him the green and gold of Springfield appeared; 
then the Brunswickers in chocolate-brown and violet and primrose 
badges; the Ixion Club, with bright yellow plumes waving in the 
breeze; and Alpha in sage-green livery with claret-hued stockings. 
The Penna Club was distinguished by its sky-blue insignia; the Capi- 
tal, by its white caps; while Buffalo bore a black-and-red banner and 
the Providence men wore blue and gold. Troy flaunted badges of 
old gold and red, and Kings County was clad in brown. 

Following the uniformed clubs pedalled an army of unattached 
cyclists garbed in all the colors of the rainbow, each according to his 
fancy. Loud applause greeted the little youngster who, clad in a 
"Joseph's coat" of many hues, led this motley division. It took the 
procession over three-quarters of an hour to pass the circle at 59th 
Street, whence it pedalled up Fifth Avenue to 11 6th Street, to Seventh 
Avenue, through Central Park to the West Drive, to 59th Street, back 
to 72d Street, and to Riverside Drive, where the cyclists dismounted 
and stacked wheels. They massed themselves upon Mount Tom, and 
with General Viele, the Park Commissioner, sitting in their front rank, 
were photographed e7i masse while the band rendered lively music. 
This ceremony concluded the afternoon's festivities, and the tired 
wheelmen broke up to seek rest and clean clothes before attending the 
banquet held at the Metropolitan Hotel at eight o'clock that evening. 

Fifth Avenue rioted in color and echoed to the deafening cheers 
of a vast multitude on April 30, 1889, when there marched by the 
great militarv parade celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of 
Washington's inauguration. 



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FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 43 

The parade started from Wall Street and Broadway about half-past 
ten in the morning. In all 50,000 men were in line, arranged in 
three divisions. The first division was composed of West Point 
Cadets, United States regulars, bluejackets, and marines; the second, 
of militia from twenty-two states; and the third, of 8,000 Grand Army 
veterans. General Schofield was marshal of the parade. At Madison 
Square, extending from the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue 
to just opposite the Hotel Brunswick, was a reviewing stand from 
which President Harrison, Ex-President Cleveland, General Sherman, 
Mayor Grant, General Tracy, and other distinguished men reviewed 
the procession. 

The West Pointers and regular soldiers and sailors swung by in 
splendid style and were followed by the state militia, each body headed 
by the state governor. The Delaware troops led the way, the states 
appearing in the order in which they ratified the Constitution. Of 
all the state troops the Pennsylvanians looked the most efficient, 
being soberly uniformed like the regulars and in heavy marching 
order. Many of the other state troops were most gaudily attired, 
and the result was an everchanging stream of rainbow hues. The 
famous Seventh New York Regiment received its usual ovation and 
distinguished itself by its fine bearing. The Ancient and Honorable 
Artillery Company of Boston won an outburst of applause from the 
crowds by the dazzling assortment of brilliant colors it presented. 

During a half-hour halt in the procession, fruit was thrown from 
windows on lower Fifth Avenue to the waiting soldiers, and at other 
places sandwiches and flowers were tossed out. 

President Harrison punctiliously answered every salute, until the 
blue ranks of the Grand Army veterans, their torn battle flags flutter- 
ing proudly in the April breeze, passed slowly by. Not until two 
o'clock did the head of the parade reach its goal at 57th Street and 
Fifth Avenue, where the tired marchers broke ranks. 

The military parade of April 30 was followed the next day by a Washington 
vast civic procession which moved down Fifth Avenue from 57th Centenary 
Street and disbanded at Broadway and Canal Street. The crowds p^'', 
were not quite so numerous as on the previous day, but the thousands "^^^^^ 
that lined the sidewalks were greatly interested in the endless 
variety of the parade, which was reviewed by President Harrison, 
Ex-Presidents Hayes and Cleveland, General Sherman, and other 
notables. 

General Butterfield led the column down Fifth Avenue. First 
came students from Columbia, the College of the City of New York, 
the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and eight public school battalions, whose 
fine marching won applause. Then came French societies, their bands 
playing the "Marseillaise"; Knights of Temperance, Sons of Vet- 
erans, Italians in blue and green, Scotch Highlanders in kilts and 
bonnets, and the Continental Guards of Yonkers uniformed in blue 
and white. The aged General Abraham Dalley of Yonkers, ninety- 
four years old and a veteran of the War of 1812, was helped up to the 



44 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 






2> -III ■V' 




From a print. Harper's Weekly. 

COLLEGE STUDENTS MARCHING IN THE WASHINGTON CENTENARY 

PARADE OF MAY i, li 



reviewing stand and shook hands with the President, occupying a seat 
in his box. 

A broad river of red filled the Avenue for over a mile and flowed 
past the stand as the veteran firemen marched by with their apparatus. 
Loud applause greeted Chief Decker and the old Ex-Chief Harry 
Howard, who marched with head up but with faltering steps, sup- 
ported by two firemen. The Tammany division marched in files of 
twenties led by General John Cochrane and Chamberlain Croker, each 
man in a shiny silk hat. The Italian organizations were followed by 
the Scandinavians, the Irish, and the Germans. The latter turned 
out in great numbers with many beautiful floats, and made a fine 
showing. Representatives of countless trades and many nationalities, 
with floats of every description, went down the Avenue in endless 
succession, until finally the rear of the huge column was brought up 
by the religious societies. President Harrison appeared to enjoy the 
varied procession thoroughly, and the crowds shared his good humor. 
Columbian New York celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of the dis- 
Military covery of America by Columbus upon a magnificent scale. The prin- 
Parade cipal event was the military parade of October 12, 1892. Sixty-five 
thousand men comprised its ten divisions, which passed up Fifth 
Avenue to 59th Street, and took five hours and thirty-five minutes 
to pass the reviewing stand at Madison Square, from which Vice- 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



45 



President Levi P. Morton and Governor Flower, cabinet officers, and 
a host of high military and civic officials witnessed the great spectacle. 

A cavalcade of forty mounted police headed the vast procession, 
followed by Grand Marshal Martin T. McMahon and his staff. 
Then came the first division with gray-uniformed West-Pointers 
marching smartly at the head, and detachments of United States 
Regulars tramping heavily behind them. After the Regulars there 
swung along with easy strides nearly four hundred jackies and marines 
from the ships-of-war in the harbor, their brown leggings matching 
the color of their bronzed faces. Then came a division of national 
guardsmen from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, 
and the District of Columbia. The Brooklyn troops bore up most 
martially under the weight of their h'eavy marching equipment of 
knapsacks and blankets. A remarkable contrast to the deadly ma- 
chine guns and plain white uniforms of the Naval Reserve were the 
obsolete equipment and gorgeous uniforms of the City Troop of 
Philadelphia, resplendent in gleaming helmets, white trousers, long- 
tailed black coats covered with gold lace, and red saddle-cloths. 

The Pennsylvania guardsmen made a fine impression by their 
soldierly appearance, and deafening cheers greeted the Grand Army 
men, who bore proudly up the Avenue their shot-torn battle flags. 
General M. Corcoran Post 427 carried a ripped and faded banner 
which had waved over every battlefield before Petersburg and 
Chancellorsville, while the renowned Alice streamer which had tossed 
in the breeze over countless thrilling scenes was borne by Judson 
Kilpatrick Post 143. Sixteen abreast, New York's letter carriers 
marched up the Avenue in splendid order, and the twenty-three 
companies of firemen with their glittering apparatus and beautiful 
horses won loud applause all along the line. 

Then came rank after rank of foreign societies in a bewildering con- 
fusion of vivid colors. The Italians wore particularly gorgeous uni- 
forms and bore a dazzling profusion of rainbow-hued banners. Some 
5,000 German-American society members were in line, many in military 
uniforms. Knights of Pythias clad in blue-black with gleaming white 
helmets and nodding crests of crimson, Russians in dark green and 
black wool skullcaps, red-sashed Austrians uniformed in blue with 
black fur shakos topped by the double-headed Austrian eagle, spir- 
ited French infantrymen proudly bearing the handsome Tricolor, 
and countless other organizations of nearly every land went by while 
the vast crowds packing the sidewalks, windows, and roofs of the 
Avenue shouted in enthusiasm. So through all the beautiful fall 
afternoon the 65,000 marchers poured up Fifth Avenue in the glory 
of the dazzling October sun, and not until night had fallen did the 
tired rear guard reach the end of the march at 59th Street. 

Two days earlier, the schools and colleges of New York had their The 
show-day. October 10, 1892, was declared Children's Day, and on Children's 
it there marched down Fifth Avenue from the Columbian Arch at Columbian 
59th Street, designed by a twenty-one-year-old Columbia student ^^^ ^ 



46 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

named Henry B. Herts, to the Washington Arch, a procession that 
made the fathers and mothers of the city proud and happy. 

Mounted pohce headed the parade; then came the Grand Marshal 
and his staff on horseback, followed by Mayor Hugh Grant marching 
alone. Hearty cheers greeted the mayor, and when there followed 
the Seventh Regiment Band heading 10,000 public school cadets, 
formed in twenty regiments, the applause was thunderous. The 
second division of the parade was 7,500 strong, and included boy 
•regiments from Long Island City and Jersey City, pupils from Cath- 
olic schools, little negro boys in uniform and carrying small muskets, 
and boys and girls from the Carlisle Indian School. Six hundred 
students from the College of the City of New York led the college 
division, which was heralded by sharp college yells. New York 
University students and husky youths bearing the pale blue and white 
of Columbia followed, and medical students from the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons made a hit by wearing tiny skeletons on 
their hats and carrying human bones, — a somewhat gruesome spectacle 
which contrasted strikingly with the delegation from the Art Students' 
League. 

On a stand before the reservoir at 42d Street was a solid mass 
of pretty young schoolgirls, looking in their freshness like a bed 
of nodding flowers. As it passed this stand every band stopped 
playing, while national songs rang out in silvery tones from the sing- 
ing girls. The Vice-President of the United States, Levi P. Morton, 
reviewed the procession with several governors and other prominent 
men. 
Columbian Fifth Avenue witnessed an unprecedented spectacle on April 28, 
Naval 1893, when there marched down it to the blare of bands and the cheers 
Parade of a great crowd the sailors and marines of ten different nations, 4,000 
strong. The occasion was the Columbian Celebration preceding the 
opening of the World's Fair in Chicago, and the naval forces had been 
landed from the visiting foreign war-vessels lying in the Hudson 
River. 

It was probably the first time in history that armed forces from so 
many different nations marched through a city in time of peace. 
Never before had British, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, 
Argentinian, Brazilian, American, and German sailors paraded to- 
gether. 

The parade started from the Hudson River front at 42d Street 
about eleven o'clock, passed through 42d Street to Fifth Avenue 
and down the Avenue to Washington Square, where it turned 
off and marched down Broadway to the City Hall. At the City 
Hall it was reviewed by the commanding officers of the foreign 
men-of-war, the governors of several states, the mayor, and other 
dignitaries. 

The sailors were escorted by a body of the United States Engineering 
Corps, detachments from the Massachusetts and New York Naval 
reserves, and the First Brigade of the New York National Guard. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



47 



E 1 iT^^fW 




■ i^'i^?:^ :%;.''.ti-', ■^■K-'s^---- 'v;: 
. '■ ■■%'ii!?^?''" ■^'■■■■ai^'^'^'s*.''' ■■- J'."'''"- ■•■■ 




From a photograph. 



American Studio. 



BRITISH BLUEJACKETS MARCHING IN THE COLUMBIAN NAVAL PARADE 

OF APRIL 28, 1893. 

Fifth Avenue was packed with thousands of enthusiastically cheering 
people occupying the sidewalks, windows, roofs, balconies, and the 
top of the reservoir at 42d Street. From the balcony and windows of 
the Fifth Avenue Hotel many prominent men witnessed the parade, 
among them Senators Morrill of Vermont, Gray of Delaware, Gibson 
of Alabama, and Gorman of Maryland, Ex-Senator Hiscock of New 
York, Governors Smith of New Hampshire and Brown of Rhode 
Island, and a number of foreign naval officers. 

American marines and jackies from the White Squadron, 2,500 
strong, led the procession, with the United States Marine Band at their 
head playing splendid music. Then came the British sailors, fine, 
husky fellows, with a solemn billy-goat adorned with a bright red 
blanket trotting majestically ahead — the mascot of H. M. S. Tartar. 
Laughter and cheers greeted the goat, and a deafening roar of applause 
rose from the crowd as the British man-of-war's men swung by with 
a rolling gait to the tune of "A British Tar is a Roving Blade." The 
rollicking air and swing of the Britishers caught the throng in an 
instant. Their sailors wore straw hats, blue uniforms, and yellow 
leggings, while their marines brought up the rear in a vivid blaze of 
flaming scarlet. 

The blue cross of Russia followed, fluttering over a magnificent- 



48 



FIFTH AVFXUE E\EXTS 



IP ff;f f f]|ff|ff 




From a phoioiraph. American Sl:idio. 

RUSSIAN SAILORS IN THE COLUMBIAN NAVAL PARADE OF APRIL 28, 1893. 

looking body of huge men, all over six feet tall, marching in solid 
squares eight deep and wearing streamers of ribbon on their white 
caps. The Russians were by far the most imposing-looking men in 
the parade, and the crowd, impressed by their powerful bearing and 
disciplined marching, gave them cheer after cheer. Next came the 
Italians, a striking contrast to the giants of the Czar, small, light, 
active, marching with quick, nervous tread. They wore straw hats 
and carried their rifles horizontally. The Germans were mostly 
young, with fresh, smooth faces. They marched with splendid pre- 
cision, keeping ponderous step in perfect alignment and time. 

The French swung gracefully along with alert, sprightly tread, 
the gay tricolor-waving jauntily over a forest of flashing sword-bayonets 
and red topknots. j\Ien of many races followed the golden sun of 
Argentina, — Latin, Saxon, Celt, Mongolian, and Nubian, — and the 
green banner of Brazil waved over many swarthy, sinewy men of 
African or Indian blood. 

The sailors presented a delightful contrast to the stiffness and rigid 
pomp seen in military parades. Alost of them swung along with an 
easy, rolling tread, and their loose-fitting shirts and trousers and 
rakish hats gave free play to their splendid bodies. The stiff march- 
ing and tight uniforms of the New York National Guardsmen who 
paraded with them lost by comparison, and the pale faces and white 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 49 



hands of the citizen soldiers and naval reserve contrasted strongly 
with the sailors' bronzed coats of sea-tan. 

Before Colonel Waring brought efficiency and neatness into the First Parade 
street cleaning department a parade by its members would probably of the Street 
havebeen the signal for ridicule. Despite the sorrowful protests of Cleaning 
certain aldermen who vehemently claimed that such new-fangled and Oeparttnent 
unheard-of notions as uniforming the street cleaners would only 
dispirit and utterly degrade them in the eyes of their fellows, the 
spirit of progress won the day in our city, and made possible — with- 
out a chance for the satirists and jokers to get in their jabs, that 
hitherto undreamed-of marvel — a parade of the street cleaning de- 
partment. 

It occurred May 26, 1896, and for an hour and a half sturdy men 
neatly uniformed in white coats passed down Fifth Avenue, with 
carts and sprinklers creaking and rumbling and Colonel Waring riding 
proudly at the column's head. A reviewing stand had been built 
upon the slope of the reservoir at ^id Street, and from this the Mayor, 
city officials, and many prominent citizens witnessed the parade, 
while the crowd lining the Avenue applauded lustily. Prizes were 
offered for the men, carts, and horses making the best appearance, 
and the display was well calculated to fire the New Yorker's heart 
with civic pride. 

A hundred thousand citizens from all callings and walks of life The Sound 
marched, October 31, 1896, up Fifth Avenue to show their belief in Money 
the sound money principles advocated by the Republicans and sound P^''^^^ 
money Democrats. In size the parade was one of the greatest polit- 
ical turnouts ever held anywhere, and its enthusiasm was proportionate 
to its bigness. 

From eleven o'clock in the morning until six-thirty in the evening 
rank after rank of cheering men marched sixteen abreast past the 
reviewing stands at Madison Square, which contained Garrett A. 
Hobart, Republican candidate for the Vice-Presidency, Governor 
Levi P. Morton, Timothy L. Woodruff, Republican candidate for 
Lieutenant-Governor, Colonel Ashley W. Cole, Mayor Strong, and 
Ex-Mayor Abram S. Hewitt, Ex-Senator Thomas C. Piatt, Cornelius N. 
Bliss, Powell Clayton, Joseph H. Manley, N. B. Scott, Colonel H. L. 
Swords, and other prominent political leaders. 

The Avenue was crowded, and windows from which to see the 
parade had been rented days before. Gold bugs and other emblems 
were carried by the marchers, and when the blare of the bands died 
away "Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys," "John Brown's Body," and 
other patriotic songs burst in deafening choruses from thousands of 
lusty throats. 

During the eighties one of the most picturesque sights to be seen The 
on Fifth Avenue was the annual parade of the New York Coaching Coaching 
Club. Coaching at that time was a favorite diversion of the wealthy ""''(^"^-^ 
people of the city. It was introduced from England in 1876 by 
Colonel Delancey Kane, who for his amusement started running a 




, h. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



51 



coach line from New York to Pelham Bridge, using a handsome old- 
fashioned English coach imported from London. 

The four-in-hand left the Brunswick Hotel at half-past ten every 
morning and reached Pelham Bridge at noon, passing through Harlem, 
Mott Haven, Fox Corners, Union Port, West Chester, and Middletown. 
The return trip began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and the Hotel 
Brunswick was reached at half-past five. Colonel Kane did not expect 
to make money out of the venture, but charged three dollars a seat 
per round trip, box seats costing fifty cents extra and no charge being 
made for passengers' baggage up to eighty-five pounds. The venture 
aroused lively interest among the fashionable set of the city, and a 
coaching club was formed on the model of the London Four-in-Hand 
Club, Messrs. James Gordon Bennett, Delancey Kane, Thomas 
Newbold, Frederic Bronson, Leonard Jerome, A. Thorndike Rice, 
William Jay, William P. Douglas, and S. Nicholas Kane being the 
founders. The club increased in membership, an.d coaching was much 
in vogue among the leisure classes for some ten or a dozen years. 
On any bright summer afternoon prominent members of New York 
society could be seen driving their handsome four-in-hands through 
Central Park and along Fifth Avenue, and the sight never failed to 
arouse interest. 

"Coaching Day" on Fifth Avenue was always the occasion of a 
grand turnout of the wealth and fashion of the city. It came the last 
Saturday in May and was the day when the New York Coaching Club 
held its annual parade. The line of four-in-hand tally-ho coaches 
formed before the Brunswick Hotel, handsomely decorated in brilliant 
colors, and with the president of the club leading, moved up Fifth 
Avenue to 59th Street, and drove through Central Park to Mt. St. 
Vincent; then returned to the Avenue and down to Washington 
Square, driving back to the Brunswick for the club's annual 
dinner. 

The smart coaches were a beautiful sight as they rolled along the 
Avenue with their handsome horses prancing with arching necks, 
their boxes filled with richly dressed women flashing in silks and 
jewels, the club members in bottle-green cut-away coats with brass 
buttons and tall white hats, while the Avenue echoed with the sweet, 
mellow call of the tally-ho horns. All the social world lined Fifth 
Avenue to applaud or envy the glittering pageant, while windows and 
balconies were filled with pretty faces and the sun shimmered on gay 
parasols, sparkling gems, lavish bouquets of choicest flowers, and costly 
dresses of a thousand rainbow hues. 

The body of Abraham Lincoln was borne through Fifth Avenue 
from 14th to 34th Streets, on its way from the City Hall, where a 
hundred and twenty thousand people had seen it lying in state, on 
April 25, 1865. It was conveyed to the Hudson River depot, whence 
it was taken to Springfield, Illinois. 

The great procession that escorted the body numbered fifty thousand 
men and was the largest that New York had then ever seen, requiring 



Founders 
of the 
New York 
Coaching 
Club 



Lincoln's 

Funeral 

Procession 



52 FIFTH A\"KXrK EVENTS 

four hours to pass and extending for five miles. Business was sus- 
pended before the cortege left the City Hall at one o'clock in the 
afternoon, and the entire city was draped in mourning. The Governor 
of New York, the Mayor, city and state officials, distinguished men 
from different parts of the country, regiments of soldiery, marines, 
and bluejackets, civic organizations, societies, and foreign consuls, 
passed slowly along Fifth Avenue between lines of silent, bareheaded 
people and buildings decked in black to the tolling of bells, the solemn 
strains of dirges, and the dull booming of cannon fired at minute 
intervals. 

The funeral car was beautifully constructed, decked with black and 
silver and draped flags and strewn with flowers, and drawn by sixteen 
gray horses covered with sable drapery, each led by a groom in mourn- 
ing. Many heads were bowed in tears as it passed, and New York 
well bespoke that afternoon the loving tribute of the nation to its 
great departed President. 

Farraguis Through Fifth Avenue on September 30, 1870, In a heavy down- 
Funeral pour of rain, moved a splendid procession escorting the remains of 
Admiral Farragut to the Harlem depot. The body had been brought 
by sea from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where the Admiral died, 
and was landed from the naval tug Catalpa at Pier No. 39, at the foot 
of Canal Street. 

The funeral procession was two miles long, and 12,000 troops were 
in line, each regiment marching behind its band playing a dirge. 
There were over two hundred carriages in the procession, carrying 
relatives, naval and military officers, clergymen, judges, business 
men, and state and national dignitaries, among them President Grant, 
Secretary of War Belknap, Postmaster-General Cresw^ell, Secretary 
of the Navy Robeson, and several governors. Military and civic 
organizations and noted men from many cities and states were in 
line, and the whole made up a solemn spectacle the sombreness of 
which was increased by rain. 
Route The route was Canal Street to Broadway to 14th Street to Fifth 
of the Avenue, and up the Avenue to 49th Street and Fourth Avenue, where 

Procession the funeral train was waiting to take the body to Woodlawn Cemetery. 
The flags on all the ships in the harbor and on public buildings hung 
at half-mast, many hotels, club-houses, and private residences were 
draped in black, and the solemn tolling of countless bells mingled 
with the slow music of the dirges and the dull booming of the minute 
guns. A platoon of police led the way, followed by Grand Marshal 
General Alexander Webb with his staff, the marine band from the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard, and a detachment of marines. Behind the 
marines came the coffin, carried on the shoulders of eight sailors. It 
was of rosewood, covered with a pall of black velvet heavily fringed 
with gold and embroidered with silver anchors and the name 
"Farragut." A flag was thrown over the pall, and on it rested 
the dead sea-lord's uniform, admiral's hat, sword, and insignia of 
rank. 



FIFTH A\'EXUE E\EXTS 



53 




Harper's Weekly. 



ADMIRAL FARRAGUT'S FUNERAL PROCESSION. 

The long line of carriages followed, and then came, plodding slowly 
through the mud and rain. United States regulars from the forts in 
the harbor, the First and Second Divisions of the New \ ork 
National Guard, 3,000 veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
a brigade of the New York Fire Department, a hundred boys from 
the Union Home and School for Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans, and 
other organizations. And so the long procession wended its way 
slowly up the Avenue between lines of silent people, to the Harlem 
depot. 

Marked honors were paid the great editor, Horace Greeley, after ^'^''^^^^ 
his death on November 29, 1872, at the home of his friend. Dr. George Greeley s 
C. S. Choate, near Tarrytown. The body was conveyed to the house ^J^^^^y^ 
of Mr. Samuel Sinclair on West 45th Street and the day before the ^^^_^ ' "^' 
funeral it was brought to the Governor's Room of the City Hall, 
and there lay in state. Mr. A. S. Frissell, who at the time was em- 
ployed across the street from the City Hall, recalls vividly the great 
crowd of rich and poor which thronged to see the body. The old and 



54 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

the young, fathers with their little children, maimed soldiers on 
crutches, generals, merchants, lawyers, and beggars came to take a 
last look at Greeley's face. It was not so much the greatness of the 
multitude which made this demonstration impressive, but the purely 
spontaneous character of the tribute to a good man's memory. Un- 
affected sorrow stamped the countenance of every one. 
Dis- Nearly three thousand persons passed through the room every hour. 
tinguished Men known far and wide composed the body's guard of honor. They 
Men in the were: Messrs. William Cullen Bryant, William B. Astor, Peter 
Body's Cooper, Aloses H. Grinnell, William M. Evarts, A. T. Stewart, John 
Guard of ^ t)\x^ Thurlow Weed, William F. Havemeyer, George W. Varian, 
Honor \\:\\\\^^-^ Butler Duncan, Abraham R. Lawrence, William J. Hoppin, 
Henry Nicol, Thomas E. Stewart, Horatio Seymour, Samuel Tilden, 
John McKean, Sheppard Knapp, John T. Hoffman, A. Oakley Hall, 
Charles O'Conor, Emil Sauer, Augustus Schell, William C. Prime, 
Charles P. Daly, Edward J. Carpenter, and John B. Stuart. Flags 
all over the city hung at half-mast and signs of mourning were every- 
where. 

Services were held in the Church of the Divine Paternity, corner 
of Fifth Avenue and 45th Street, and were attended by a great throng 
of reverent mourners. Among them were President Grant, Vice- 
President Colfax, Vice-President-elect Wilson, and many other noted 
men. The church was draped in black, and the clock had black 
drapery around it and a white floral cross within a green wreath above. 
It was stopped at the hour of Mr. Greeley's death, ten minutes of 
seven. 

A hundred and twenty-five carriages were in the funeral procession 
which moved down Fifth Avenue to 14th Street, without music or 
military guard, mounted police leading the way, followed by Mayor 
Hall, Superintendent Kelso, detachments of police and firemen, 
five carriages of pallbearers. President Grant, Vice-President Colfax, 
and Vice-President-elect Wilson in an open landau. Governor Hoff- 
man and other governors. Editor Manton Marble of the World, the 
Tribune staff. Typographical Society, Union League Club, Common 
Council and other city officials, representatives of the Liberal Re- 
publican Committee, Union Republican General Committee, Tam- 
many Hall General Committee, Lincoln Club, Simon Cameron 
Association, Sons of Temperance, members of the Lotos, Arcadian, 
Farmers', and Rural Clubs, and the American Institute. Despite 
the lack of banners, music, regalia, and military pomp, it was pne 
of the most impressive processions that ever passed along Fifth 
Avenue. 

Evening shadows had begun to creep about the vault on Locust 
Hill at the Greenwood Cemetery when the cortege reached it. A 
great crowd was gathered about. While relatives wept and the 
throng stood motionless in silent reverence, a short prayer was said, 
a blessing given, and the earthly remains of Horace Greeley were 
lowered into the vault. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 55 



How Riverside Drive was chosen as the last resting place of General fj^^ 
U. S. Grant is told by John D. Crimmins: "The morning after the Riverside 
death of General Grant at Mount McGregor," said Mr. Crimmins, Drive was 
"I was called from my bed at Great Neck where I was staying at chosen as 
the time, a short distance from the residence of Mayor Grace, by a ihe Last 
reporter from the New York Times, Mr. Riley, who had called on R^^t^ing 
the Mayor and had been directed by him to me. Mr. Riley advised ^'^^^^ ^ 
me that Colonel Fred Grant had been asked where his father was ^^i^^L 
to be buried and had replied, 'Either in Washington, Springfield, or 
New York where the people treated my father so generously.' It 
appealed to me as an opportunity to have the remains of the great 
General placed within our city, and the question was 'where.' We 
telegraphed Colonel Grant and he replied, 'In the vicinity of the Mall.' 
The Park Board was called together and a resolution was passed 
practically prohibiting any monument within Central Park such 
as might be expected would be raised to the memory of the General. 

"Without advising Colonel Grant of this action, he was requested 
to come to the city, which he did the following day, and I conveyed 
him and Major-General Winfield Hancock and Hon. Henry R. Beek- 
man and Mr. M. C. D. Borden, my associates on the Park Board, to a 
site opposite the Cancer Hospital at io6th Street and Eighth Avenue. 

"Realizing that it was not a desirable location, in consequence of 
it overlooking the Cancer Hospital, the General having died of cancer, 
we drove to Riverside Drive, where I pointed out the advantages of 
the present location, that it was in the vicinity of the field where the 
Battle of Harlem Heights was fought, that it was opposite to Fort 
Lee, and that a short distance away was Washington Heights, and 
other Revolutionary forts. The Colonel said the site was satisfactory 
to him and that he would report to his mother. From him we re- 
ceived a telegram shortly after his return to Mount McGregor, that 
everything was perfectly satisfactory, provided Mrs. Grant might 
finally rest beside her husband. 

"To this we consented and, having the cordial support of Mayor 
W. R. Grace, we immediately began the preparation for the temporary 
tomb, which, through my connection with the building trades and 
contractors, we were able to have ready for the funeral, although 
there was at the time no appropriation for the work. Everything 
was in readiness on time, which was due to the mechanics employed 
working every hour of the day. The funeral practically for the last 
time brought together the famous generals who fought opposite sides, 
on the Union and Confederate. The ceremonies lasted until the late 
afternoon and after the funeral Mr. Beekman, Mr. Borden, and 
myself, entertained the invited guests from out of town for luncheon 
at the Claremont which we had reserved for the occasion. General 
Hancock and also generals on both sides renewed their army associa- 
tions. And those from out of town spoke of the excellent selection 
and when the historical associations were pointed out were enthusi- 



astic." 




From a piijlograph. 



Collectioji oj John D. Crimmiiis. 



FUNERAL PROCESSION OF GENERAL GRANT PASSING BRYANT PARK. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 57 



Fifth Avenue echoed to the solemn strains of dirges played by many Grant's 
bands, and to the slow tramp of thousands of marching feet on August Funeral 
8, 1885, the day on which the great military and civic procession Procession 
escorted the remains of General and Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant 
to his tomb overlooking the Hudson. For two days and three nights 
the body of General Grant had lain in state in the vestibule of the 
black-draped City Hall, while a constant stream of people, estimated 
at 250,000, flowed by his coffin. 

Entering Fifth Avenue from 14th Street, the procession moved up 
to 57th Street and then west to Broadway. The clock in the spire of 
the Brick Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue pointed to half-past ten 
in the morning when Major-General W. S. Hancock, heading the pro- 
cession with his staff, rode past the church. Not until half-past three 
in the afternoon — five hours later — did the rear guard of the proces- 
sion pass by. 

Major-General W. S. Hancock and his staff led the procession and 
following came rank after rank of soldiery, twelve thousand strong. 
Looking down Fifth Avenue from the crest of Murray Hill, as far as 
the eye could see stretched a moving mass of blue, the sunlight flash- 
ing in a million golden points from rifle-barrels and sword-blades, 
while regiment after regiment, their colors draped in mourning, 
tramped slowly by to the measured music of many dirges. 

The first division of the procession was composed of regular troops. Description 
marines and sailors. New York State Militia, the Old Guard, the of the 
Governor's Foot Guards of Hartford, Connecticut, Zouaves, and Procession 
Italian Guards. It took an hour to pass, and was followed by the 
second division, composed of militia from diff'erent states commanded 
by Major-General E. L. Molineaux. The division was headed by the 
Brooklyn regiments. The crack Seventh New York and First Penn- 
sylvania distinguished themselves by their fine bearing. 

By this time the head of the procession was out of sight, and now 
appeared score upon score of carriages bearing distinguished mourners. 
First came clergymen and General Grant's physicians, then the 
pallbearers, two in each carriage, their carriages being driven two 
abreast. Following the pallbearers marched members of George C. 
Meade Post No. i, G. A. R., the Philadelphia post to which General 
Grant belonged, bearing sixteen battle flags torn with shot and shell. 
Directly behind these was the catafalque, drawn by twenty-four black 
horses with sable trappings, each horse with a black-garbed groom 
holding its bit. The body's guard of honor, a detachment from Gen- 
eral U. S. Grant Post of Brooklyn, walked on both sides of the cata- 
falque, with two companies of regulars as a bodyguard. 

The casket was in plain sight, resting beneath a black canopy. 
As it passed a hush fell upon the crowds lining the Avenue and every 
head was bared in silent tribute. More carriages rolled by, and then 
President Cleveland appeared. He was applauded heartily as he 
drove by, but he gravely refused to acknowledge the applause. Other 
carriages contained Secretary Bayard and other cabinet officers, 



58 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

General Grant's old staff, United States senators and representatives, 
ex-cabinet officers, supreme court judges, members of the diplomatic 
corps under President Grant, Ex-Presidents Hayes and Arthur, and 
state governors with their staffs. 

Following the carriages of the state dignitaries drove General 

Sickles, at the head of a division of members of veteran associations, 

18,000 strong, who marched with a splendid swing. The fourth and 

last division was composed of civic organizations, having some 8,000 

men in line. 

President The funeral of Ex-President Chester A. Arthur was held at the 

Arthur's Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue, November 22, 1886. 

Funeral His family desired a quiet and so far as possible a private funeral, but 

the ceremonies, while free from undue pomp, were very impressive. 

Famous men from all over the country gathered to pay honor to 
the dead statesman, among them President Cleveland, the only living 
Ex-President, Hayes, justices of the supreme court, cabinet officers, 
senators, representatives, etc. The body was taken from No. 123 
Lexington Avenue to the Church of the Heavenly Rest at nine o'clock 
in the morning. Outside the church on Fifth Avenue was a military 
and naval guard of honor composed of six batteries of the Fifth 
United States Artillery from Governor's Island, and five companies 
of bluejackets and a company of marines from the navy yard. When 
the services were ended, a procession was formed and moved down 
Fifth Avenue to the Grand Central station, the soldiers and sailors 
leading. A special train carried the body to the cemetery at 
Albany. 
General Seldom has so dense a mass of humanity packed the sidewalks, 
Sherman s roof-tops, and windows along the Avenue as on the afternoon of 
Funeral February 19, 1891. Even the spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral were 
filled with sight-seers. The occasion which drew thousands to Fifth 
Avenue was the funeral of General Sherman, who had died on Feb- 
ruary 14 and whose body, lying in state at his 71st Street house, had 
been viewed by great multitudes. 

The military and civic procession included over eleven thousand 
marchers, many of them the General's old soldiers. Strangely enough, 
the route traversed was almost exactly the same, only in the opposite 
direction, over which the dead commander had passed in the Wash- 
ington Centenary parade, of April 30, 1889, but this time the build- 
ings along the way were draped in mourning. 

The Fifth Avenue Hotel, its roof lined with spectators and its 
windows filled, was most handsomely draped in mourning, while the 
display on the Hoffman House near by was also very elaborate and 
artistic. The mourning decorations were also very striking on the 
Union League Club house, the Century, the Knickerbocker, the 
quarters of the Seventh Regiment Veterans and the Ohio Society, 
the Buckingham, Langham, Victoria, Brevoort, Berkeley, and Bruns- 
wick Hotels, and the Sickles, Butterfield, Wilson, Vanderpoel, Whitney, 
Goelet, and Vanderbilt houses. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



59 







From a print. 



THE SHERMAN FUNERAL PROCESSION. 
Showing the funeral cortege passing the Fifth Avenue Hotel. 



Harper's Weekly. 



The General's body was borne in military style on a caisson in a 
casket draped with flags. The grounds of the Catholic Orphan 
Asylum next to the Cathedral on 50th Street were filled with people, 
and on a little eminence was drawn up the institution's cadet corps 
in full uniform at present arms. None of these youngsters was over 
twelve years old, and they were an impressive sight as they stood 
rigidly there with solemn faces. 

As the procession moved toward its destination, the Pennsylvania 
ferry, many of the older G. A. R. veterans were forced to drop out of 
the line, the tramp proving too much for their years, so that it was with 
lessened numbers that the procession was finally disbanded. 

DISASTERS ON FIFTH AVENUE 

Fifth Avenue has had its share of disasters, riots, and fires. Even 
a wind-storm came in for some attention when it destroyed the half- 
completed residence of William R. Martin, located then in what was 
comparatively a rural section of the Avenue. The event is recalled 
by Mr. John D. Crimmins: "The first building for a residence on 
Fifth Avenue north of 57th Street was started by William R. Martin 
between 626. and 63d Streets. The building had reached about four 
stories and it was exposed in every direction. A violent wind storm 
blew the walls completely off the foundation. Mr. Martin was a Park 
Commissioner and a man of taste and education. He started the 



6o I'IFTH AVEXUK EVENTS 

house as an illustration of the value of a Park front for residential 
purposes." 
The Stone- For four days and four nights in August, 1834, peaceful Washington 
cutters' Riot Square — then called Washington Parade Ground — presented a warlike 
appearance. The Twenty-seventh Regiment, New York National 
Guard, commanded by Colonel Stevens, lay encamped on the Square 
with loaded rifles, ready for instant action. 

Convict labor had been introduced in the state prison at Sing Sing, 
and for some time great discontent had prevailed among the me- 
chanics and artisans of New York, because the State sold its convict 
labor cheaper than the prices demanded by free labor. The build- 
ings of New York University were under construction on the east 
side of Washington Square. Westchester marble was being used, 
and the contractors, to save money, hired Sing Sing labor to dress the 
stone. 

At once the resentment of the stonecutters and masons burst into 
action. Excited meetings were held and addressed by leaders who 
in impassioned speeches denounced the employment of cheap convict 
labor as " taking the bread out of our mouths," and crowds of workmen 
paraded the streets carrying placards and banners bearing inscrip- 
tions assailing prison labor and the contractors and demanding the 
rights of the workingmen. Feeling rose so high that the houses of 
several persons were mobbed and citizens assaulted. A'layor Cornelius 
W. Lawrence, fearing that the workmen at the University buildings 
would suffer violence and the civil authorities would be unable to con- 
trol the rioters, called out the Twenty-seventh Militia Regiment to 
disperse the tumultuous crowds marching about the city. 

The sight of the troops acted like a balm upon the parading stone- 
cutters, and the rioters broke their ranks and went home. No more 
trouble ensued, but the city was so wrought up by the turbulent 
scenes that the soldiers were kept under arms near the University 
buildings for the four days, to guard against further outbreaks. 

The building of the University and of the houses on the north- 
west corner of Fifth Avenue and i8th Street, which were built by 
Robert C. Townsend and Henry H. Elliott, of marble cut at Sing 
Sing, was delayed by the disturbance, and no more buildings were 
constructed of convict-dressed stone. 
The The House of Refuge fire, June 20, 1839, was a spectacular episode. 
Burning of The building stood at Madison Square near where the Farragut 
the House of statue now stands, then the junction of the Eastern Post Road and 
Refuge |-i^g Bloomingdale Road. The neighborhood was quite rural, and 
adjoining the House of Refuge was a cherry orchard. The House 
of Refuge was opened in 1824 by the Society for the Reformation 
of Youthful Delinquents, the first American society whose object 
was the care and reformation of juvenile offenders. The fire broke 
out late in the afternoon In the workshop of Stephen C. Demarest & 
Co., who carried on a brass nail, mat, and whip factory, and over 
whose shop was a chair-seat factory run by one Captain Seaman. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 6i 



Bursting out In the centre of the brass nail factory, the flames quickly 
ignited the upper story of the House of Refuge. 

An alarm was promptly given, and the inmates were safely led 
out and secured so that none could escape. No hose was, however, 
at hand. The flames were rapidly spreading amid a wild scene of 
helpless confusion, when up to the blazing building dashed spectacu- 
larly Ex-Alderman Bunting of the Fourth Ward, who had built the 
structure. He had driven his galloping horse up the main road that Fighiuv 
led to Madison Square, and, jumping from the gig, took command the Fire 
of the situation. Calling upon a dozen men to follow him with 
water buckets, he rushed to the wing of the building, on which 
flames were rapidly licking up the shingles, and, stripping to his 
shirt-sleeves, began to throw water on the roof as fast as the buckets 
could be handed to him. He soon had the fire on the roof under 
control. 

Meanwhile the fire engines, with a crowd of citizens, had arrived 
upon the scene, and began playing streams of water upon the con- 
flagration. The whole of the House of Refuge, except the women's 
wing, which had been saved by Mr. Bunting's efforts, was by this 
time a roaring furnace. 

A turbulent gang of roughs from all over the city overflowed into 
the orchard by the blazing building and began destroying the trees 
and stripping them of fruit, threatening violence to those opposing 
them. A riot had begun when the IMayor with a posse of police 
arrived and rushed the mob. Blows were struck, and there was a 
general melee. Justice Taylor of the upper Police Court had a set-to 
with a rough bent on having his fill of cherries, and the Justice lost 
his coat-sleeve in mastering his opponent. But the police shortly 
got the upper hand of the gangsters, and order was restored. 

The entire building excepting the women's wing was soon a heap 
of ruins, but no one was hurt. After the fire the institution was trans- 
ferred to the foot of East 23d Street, where it remained until about 
1854, when it was moved to Randall's Island. 

One of the show places off Fifth Avenue from 1853 to 1858 was Crystal 
the Crystal Palace, which stood west of the old reservoir, in what is Palace Fire 
now known as Bryant Park. This building, which was designed 
somewhat after the model of the famous Crystal Palace in London, 
in the shape of a Greek cross, was built of glass and iron, with broad 
aisles, arched naves, and a graceful dome. It cost about $650,000, and 
was opened by President Franklin Pierce on July 14, 1853, as an 
exhibition hall for a display of the world's industries and arts. Finan- 
cially it was not a success. It was the scene of a great reception in 
1858 to Cyrus W. Field when the Atlantic cable was laid. 

About five o'clock in the afternoon of October 5, 1858, when 
the annual fair of the American Institute was being held in the 
building and it was filled with a valuable collection of costly goods, 
many the property of prominent merchants of the city, fire broke 
out. 



62 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 




From a print. 



Collection of J . Clarence Davies. 
INTERIOR OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 



Some two thousand visitors were in the building at the time. The 
entrance on 40th Street was closed and the panic-stricken crowd 
rushed madly for the Sixth Avenue entrance. Ex-Captain Maynard 
of the Municipal Police and several Directors of the Institute threw 
themselves into the midst of the terror-stricken mob and by heroic 
efforts succeeded in guiding every one safely to the street. The 
whole northern part of the building was soon ablaze, and the flames 
leaped up and swept along the galleries, which by this time were 
fortunately deserted. Some one foolishly or with deliberate intent 
opened the doors at the 40th Street entrance, and with a strong 
draught circulating through the building its whole interior was a 
roaring furnace in less than three minutes. 
The The fire department was shortly on the scene, and twenty or thirty 
Building streams of water were thrown into the building, but it was seen that 
consumed j^. ^^g doomed. Several pieces of fire apparatus were on exhibition, 
and the firemen made desperate attempts to rescue them, finally 
succeeding in saving two hose wagons. Some of the exhibitors 
bravely rushed into the burning building to save their property, 
but the terrible heat and strangling smoke drove them out, and 
hardly anything was saved. The loss was estimated at about 
$2,000,000. 

The rumor was widely circulated — and generally believed — that the 
Crystal Palace had been purposely set on fire. The theory that the 
conflagration was due to leaking gas which was accidentally ignited 
was not believed by most people. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 




From a print. 



Collection of J . Clarence Davies. 



THE CRYSTAL PALACE FIRE. 



On Fifth Avenue between 43d and 44th Streets was staged July 13, Colored 
1863, a terrible scene of rioting and fire. Measures had been taken Orphan 
several days previously to draft men from New York City into the Asylum Fire 
Union Army, and on Monday, July 13, a mob, goaded to wild passion ^"/^ Draft 
by hatred of the draft and by the harangues of demagogues, started ^''■^^ 
to riot and destroy anything and every one that stood in its path. 

Some twenty names had been called in the drafting office at Third 
Avenue and 46th Street, when a crowd of five hundred men and 
boys hurled a shower of stones and brickbats through the windows 
and rushing in drove the draft officers out the back entrance, destroyed 
all the books and papers, and set the building on fire. The flames 
caught the adjoining buildings, and the whole block was burned to 
the ground. Police Superintendent Kennedy was seized by the mob 
and nearly killed before he could be rescued. The armory at Second 
Avenue and 21st Street was attacked by three or four thousand men 
and boys, the doors were broken in, and the mob was rushing in when 
a volley from the body of police garrisoning the building dropped a 
half-dozen of the leaders upon the threshold. For a few moments 
the mob drew off, but then, doubly furious at the killing and wounding 
of their comrades, the rioters charged the building madly, hurling 
paving stones and firing pistols as they came. The police fought 
desperately to keep them out, but orders came to evacuate the 
armory and they abandoned it to the mob, which set it on fire. 

A detachment of fifty men of the invalid corps under Lieutenant 
Ried hurried from the Park Barracks to disperse the rioters. They 
fired a volley, but the mob, seeing that they used only blank cartridges, 



64 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

rushed them furiously, broke their ranks, disarmed them, and chased 
the soldiers through the streets. Many were caught and beaten and 
kicked nearly to death. Bodies of police were routed and the officers 
horribly mauled by ruffians. The oifice of the New York Tribune 
was gutted and set on fire, but the police drove off the rioters and put 
out the flames. Soldiers of the Eleventh New York Regiment com- 
manded by Colonel O'Brien broke up a mob in Second Avenue, but 
the Colonel, getting separated from his men, was seized by the mob 
and beaten to death. Several ruffians used his head as a target for 
pistol practice as he lay dead on the sidewalk, and then hung the corpse 
from a lamp-post. 
FioUfice oj The rioters singled out negroes as especial objects of their hatred, 
the Mob and all over the city black men, women, and children were hunted, 
beaten, and murdered. A negro teamster was brutally pounded with 
clubs and paving stones until he died, and then the bloodthirsty mob 
strung his bleeding body from a tree, set fire to it, and danced howling, 
singing, and cursing about the blazing corpse. A reign of terror held 
possession of the city, and fire, murder, pillage, and violence stalked 
abroad almost unchecked. After wrecking property elsewhere and 
overpowering the police and soldiers who tried to disperse them, the 
rioters, several thousand strong, started up Fifth Avenue to plunder 
and destroy the Colored Orphan Asylum. 

The Colored Orphan Asylum was a large brick building with four 
stories and two wings occupying the block on Fifth Avenue between 
43d and 44th Streets. Built In 1842 by the Association for the Benefit 
of Colored Orphans, it contained at this time two hundred and thirty- 
three negro children who were being cared for and taught useful 
trades. 

Nearly all the occupants had been taken to a place of safety — 
the police station of the Twentieth Precinct — before the howling mob 
arrived, about four o'clock in the afternoon. Swarming over the 
grounds and up the stairs they rushed through rooms and corridors, 
smashing and pillaging. In a short time the building was stripped 
clean from basement to attic, even the clothing of the children being 
stolen by the pillagers. Having wrecked the interior of the building 
and taken everything of value, the mob, many of whom were women 
and children, prepared to complete their evil work by burning it. 

Waving a white flag of truce from the sidewalk opposite the build- 
ing, those in charge of the institution pleaded with the rioters not to 
burn it, but only jeers and threats answered them. Fires were started 
in several places on the first floor, when a party of firemen led by Chief 
Gallantry John Decker rushed into the building and put them out. Infuriated 
of Fire by his brave action, the rioters threatened Decker with death, but he 
Chief kept on extinguishing the fires as fast as they were started. Standing 
Decker q^ ^|^g front steps he called in the name of humanity upon the mob, 
drunk with passion and whiskey, that raged and howled and cursed 
about him, not to disgrace their city by burning a charitable institu- 
tion. They answered by making a rush up the steps to kill him, and 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



65 




From a print. Collection oj J. Llarencc Uavies. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM, 44™ STREET AND 

FIFTH AVENUE. 

only the gallantry of some firemen, who threw themselves m front of 
the charging rabble shouting that their chief could be injured only 
over their dead bodies, saved his life. Another story goes that Decker 
was seized by the mob and was about to be hanged upon a near-by 
tree when his ready wit saved his life. Making an expressive gesture 
toward his throat, he said coolly to a ringleader of the mob who was 
tying a noose in the rope: — 

"What good will it do you to hang me.^ You will only stop my 
draft, not the Government's!" 

The jest and the nerve shown by the gallant fireman took the fancy 
of the rioters, and Decker was not injured. 

After trying for an hour and a half to set fire to the asylum, the mob 
finally succeeded, and soon the whole building was ablaze. About 
a score of the negro children who had not escaped with the rest were 
seized by the drunken rioters, who had already captured several 
colored men and hanged them to lamp-posts. Some of the ruffians 
were inciting the mob to do the children violence, and the terrified 
little orphans were being roughly handled, when through the clamoring 
throng that surrounded them burst the crew of Engine Company 
No. 18 with four stage-drivers of the 4.26 Street line and a young 
Irishman named Paddy M'Caffrey. 

The resolute bearing of the fearless little band cowed the mob, and 
the children were conducted in safety to the police station of the 



66 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

Thirty-fifth Precinct. Thus all the inmates of the asylum received 
shelter for the night at either the Twentieth or Thirty-fifth Precinct 
police stations. Many of them were not two years old, and none 
over twelve. The asylum was totally destroyed, and several persons 
were injured by falling walls. The fire loss was estimated at 
$35,000. 
TheH^indsor As the St. Patrick's day parade swept up Fifth Avenue, on the 
Hotel Fire afternoon of March 17, 1899, a bareheaded man, his clothing, face, 
and hands blackened with smoke, ploughed wildly through the throng 
in front of the Windsor Hotel in his effort to reach the other side of 
the Avenue. An alert policeman grabbed him and hauled him back 
to the sidewalk, gesticulating and stammering incoherently. The 
noise of a passing band drowned his words, and the policeman, be- 
wildered, was holding him tightly, when he stabbed the air with his 
hand in the direction of the Windsor Hotel right behind. Looking 
around, the officer saw great clouds of smoke and flame belching from 
the windows on the second floor. The hotel was on fire! 

The alarm then given was the prelude to the most terrible fire 
which has occurred on Fifth Avenue. Fourteen persons were killed 
and fifty injured. 

The Windsor Hotel, a dignified building of seven stories, occupied 
the whole block on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 46th and 
47th Streets. About 3 p.m. many of the hotel's windows were filled 
with interested spectators of the parade. It was said that one of the 
front parlors on the second floor was occupied by a man who was 
alone and who lit a cigar and carelessly tossed the match out the open 
window. It hit the window curtains while still burning, and instantly 
they were ablaze. The man lost his head completely and bolted from 
the room without trying to put out the fire or give the alarm. When 
the head waiter happened to go by the door a few minutes later, the 
smell of smoke attracted his attention, and, looking into the parlor, 
he saw the curtains and window casing a mass of flame, while the 
tongues were rapidly licking up the side of the room. Rushing in, he 
strove to put out the blaze, but it had too much headway. After 
severely burning his hands, he jumped into the corridor and leaped 
down the stairs yelling "Fire!" Reaching the crowded sidewalk, he 
started across the Avenue for the nearest fire alarm box, only to be 
seized by the policeman, as told above. 

By the time an alarm was rung the whole street and interior of the 
hotel was in an uproar. Four alarms were sent in, and brought a big 
force of fire apparatus. Crowds of paraders and spectators impeded 
the work of the firemen, and an inadequate supply of water hampered 
them still more. The peculiar construction of the hotel made it a 
veritable fire trap. The fire mounted by the wide halls and in and 
out of the windows until the whole interior of the building was a 
seething mass of writhing, crackling flame. The hoarse shouts of the 
firemen, the clanging of gongs, the rumble of the engines, and the 
frantic screams of those caught within the burning building made a 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 67 

horrid medley of sound, while the tragic scenes enacted in the windows 
of the hotel were never forgotten by those who witnessed them. 

Many of the windows of the hotel were jammed with screaming Incidents 
guests. Now and then a yellow sheet of flame would shoot up like a of the Fire 
devouring monster over a window filled with blanched faces, and 
they would disappear into the furnace. Many tried to slide down 
fire escape ropes, which were in every bedroom, but the friction burned 
the skin from their hands, and they fell into the street. Others lost 
their heads and in wild panic jumped from the windows. Some were 
caught in nets, others were fatally crushed or maimed for life on the 
flagging. 

A woman with a baby in her arms stood at one window imploring 
help, while the flames were leaping up to the sill from the lower floor. 
Finally she lost her reason and, hurling the infant into the street, 
jumped after it. Another richly dressed woman lifted her arms 
helplessly heavenward from a window on the fourth floor and then 
leaped, turning several times in the air before she struck the iron rail- 
ing below. A trained nurse stopped two men frantically hunting for 
a fire escape, telling them there was one in her room. They rushed 
after her, but when they were inside they saw no fire escape but a 
crippled old woman in a wheel-chair, and the brave nurse, backing 
against the closed door, demanded that they help her rescue her 
patient. Roused by her spirit, the men took hold, and the quartet 
reached the open air safely. 

Worked to a frenzy by such scenes, the firemen labored like heroes, 
and many gallant rescues were made. The loss of life would have 
been much smaller had those at the windows kept their heads and 
refrained from jumping. Before dark the hotel was a blackened heap 
of smoking ruins, with but one wall standing, which soon "slid down 
to its base like a closing fan." And not until seven in the evening 
was the fire fully under control and near-by property out of danger. 
Palatial business structures, among which is that of W. & J. Sloane, 
now occupy the site. 

Though much less spectacular than the Windsor Hotel fire, that Fifth 
which occurred at the Fifth Avenue Hotel on December 10, 1872, .-Ivenue^ 
was even more fatal, for twenty-two people were suffocated before Hotel Fire 
the fire was extinguished. It started about 11. 15 p.m., December 9, 
1872, in the upper story on the 23d Street side, and by midnight the 
entire 23d Street side was ablaze. 

The cause was unknown, but it originated in the elevator or stairs 
leading to the laundry on the top floor. Many of the guests were 
in bed when the fire broke out, and the appearance of firemen dragging 
hose up the stairs and through corridors was the first inkling many 
had of the danger. A panic ensued. The guests, throwing on their 
clothes, hastily gathered their belongings and rushed downstairs. 
Only by great efforts did the firemen save the hotel. 

Having the fire nearly all out, they made a room-to-room inspection 
of the building. Entering a room known as "the cock-loft," high 



68 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 




From a print. Leslie's Weekly. 

THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL FIRE. 

Showing the discovery of the victims in the servants' dormitory by the firemen. 

up under the roof, where slept the maids and laundry women, one of 
the firemen tripped over something on the floor and fell. Throwing 
the dim rays of their lantern about the room, the firemen saw that the 
floor nearest the only window was piled with charred and blackened 
bodies. With the stairs leading to the twelve-by-twelve sleeping room 
on fire, the only way of escape had been the window which opened on 
the hotel roof, and this window was barred. Evidences were every- 
where of the frightful struggle the women had made in their frantic 
endeavors to escape. They had fought and screamed to force the 
bars on the window, but one by one they had dropped, overcome by 
the deadly smoke and heat, and were slowly strangled and burned 
to death. At half-past two in the morning, twenty-two corpses had 
been removed by the firemen and police. The bodies were taken out 
the 23d Street door to the morgue. And yet not two years before, the 
attic room had been inspected by the New York Superintendent of 
Buildings and pronounced safe! The loss was estimated at from 
)^75,ooo to ^100,000, mostly caused by water. 
St. Thomas's St. Thomas's Episcopal Church at the northwest corner of Fifth 
Church Fire Avenue and 53d Street — the predecessor of the church now standing — 
was destroyed by fire on August 8, 1905. Poor insulation of the 
electric wiring which supplied power to the great organ was supposed 
to have caused the fire. Fifty fire companies labored to save the 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 69 



church, but despite their efforts it was practically ruined, while the 
residences of Dr. Seward Webb and H. McK. Twombly, which adjoined 
it to the north, suffered much damage from water. Both of these, as 
well as John D. Rockefeller's house at 4 West 54th Street, were in 
danger of catching before the fire in the church was under control. 

Four alarms were sent in, bringing a lot of apparatus to the scene; 
but the firemen were handicapped by scarcity of water and hydrants, 
and Chief Croker stated that delay in sending in the alarm by the 
police made it impossible for the church to be saved. 

A weird incident of the fire occurred when the big tenor bell of the Dirges peal 
chimes given the church by Thomas W. Walter suddenly began to above the 
toll a mournful dirge high above the raging flames, as if bewailing the Plumes 
destruction of its home. The cause was a powerful stream of water 
thrown from the top of a ladder upon the bell. The distress of the 
pigeons which for years had nested in the spire was plainly evident, 
as they circled and wheeled distractedly, crying around the blazing 
tower. 

The fire loss was about ^300,000, two-thirds covered by insurance; 
but the world of art suffered an irreparable loss in the destruction of 
John LaFarge's two masterpieces of painting, "Christ Healing the 
Sick" and "The Resurrection," and Augustus Saint-Gaudens's famous 
bronze bas-relief, "The Adoration of the Cross." 

The church was built in 1870 and was one of the most imposing 
buildings in the city. The famous architect, Upjohn, was the designer, 
and he considered it his masterpiece. It was of Gothic architecture, 
built of brownstone, and cost almost a million dollars. Its congrega- 
tion was one of the wealthiest in New York and numbered over three 
thousand persons. In this church Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt wedded 
the Duke of Marlborough, and Miss May Goelet the Duke of Rox- 
burghe, while among other noted marriages held within its walls were 
those of Senator Clarke's daughter Catherine and Lewis R. Morris, 
and Miss Pauline Whitney and Almeric Paget. The rector at the 
time of the fire was the Rev. Dr. Ernest M. Stires. 

OTHER EVENTS ON FIFTH AVENUE 

Events that have been worthy of note include the opening of an 
amusement place — Franconi's Hippodrome in 1853; the dedication of 
the Worth Monument the following year; the dedication of St. 
Patrick's Cathedral, one of the most impressive religious ceremonies 
ever performed in New York City; and the opening in 191 1 of the New 
York Public Library, on which occasion President William H. 
Taft and other distinguished speakers assembled to observe the 
occasion. 

A great amusement place known as Franconi's Hippodrome, the Opening of 
forerunner of Madison Square Garden, was opened by a syndicate of Franconi's 
American showmen on May 2, 1853, at the corner of Fifth Avenue Hippodrome 
and 23d Street, where the Fifth Avenue Building now is. This was 



yo FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

an arena enclosed by brick walls twenty feet high, three hundred feet 
by two hundred in its interior dimensions, containing an oval race- 
track forty feet wide, of eight laps to the mile. Ninety thousand square 
feet of canvas roofed the arena, and a thousand gaslights illuminated 
it by night. Parterres of verdure were laid out in the centre of the 
arena, inside the track, and illuminated fountains and beautiful 
vases of flowers were scattered amid the green parterres. The Hip- 
podrome seated about 6,000 people, and 3,000 could find standing 
room. 

Before half-past seven in the evening of May 2, every available 
bit of space in the Hippodrome was jammed with a crowd of nearly 
10,000 people; according to a contemporary paper the greatest crowd 
that had ever assembled in a building in the city up to that time. 
There was a wild stampede for seats, and many people were knocked 
down and hurt in the crush. The performance was given by a com- 
pany of one hundred and forty people, including thirty women. 
Eighty horses were used, ten ostriches, five camels, four deer, two 
elephants, and a swarm of monkeys. There were hurdle races be- 
tween monkeys riding ponies, steeplechase races between ostriches, a 
six-horse race driven by young women, performances by a "dancing 
horse," chariot racing with women drivers, a grand tournament rep- 
resenting the days of chivalry, and a pageant. 
The The tournament was dubbed "The Field of the Cloth of Gold," 

Tournament and ninety characters appeared in it, representing Kings Henry VHI 
0/ " The Qf England and Francis I of France and their nobles and retainers. 

Field oj the ^\^^ array marched around the track and then halted, the heralds 
n 1% sounded their trumpets, and the gallant knights after challenging 
each other to combat charged with levelled lances or engaged with 
sword and battle-axe. A most clever performance was that of a 
horse, which, feigning death, was borne off the field on a hurdle. 
Finally a knight in black armor who had unhorsed all his opponents 
was awarded the victor's prize by the "Queen of Beauty," and the 
tournament ended with a flourish of trumpets. 

"A grand fete procession in honor of Ceres" was another feature 
of the performance. The goddess sat upon a car decorated with 
figures of the Muses and cast golden grain to right and left as she was 
borne along in stately procession. Four Muses grouped about her re- 
volved on a pedestal as the car rolled along. Loud applause greeted 
this novel spectacle. 

Although the great crowd attending the opening night gave every 

promise of the venture's being a success, the management lost money 

steadily, and in 1855 the Hippodrome was razed to make room for 

the Fifth Avenue Hotel. 

Laying of Q^^ Qf ^j^^ early processions in New York about which few New 

the Corner Yorkers know anything, was that in celebration of the laying of the 

^^one of the ^^^^^^^ stone of the ill-fated Washington Monument in Hamilton 

Monumnit Square on October 19, 1847. Hamilton Square extended from Fifth to 

Third Avenues, 66th to 68th Streets, but at the time of the celebration 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 




From a print. CoUeciion of the late A mos F. Eno. 

THE INTERIOR OF FRANCONI'S HIPPODROME. 

Fifth Avenue had not been carried through to Hamilton Square. The 
foundation of the Washington Monument was laid near the Third 
Avenue side of the Square. Ill success attended the monument; it 
was never built beyond the foundation, and the contributions toward 
its erection were returned to the donors. 

The parade was composed of military and civic organizations, 
including societies, the fire department, foreign diplomats, and promi- 
nent men from different parts of the country; numbered 15,000 to 
20,000 persons, and took two hours and three-quarters to pass. Led 
by Major-General Frederick Pentz as marshal, it started from City 
Hall Park and went up Broadway to 14th Street to Third Avenue 
to Hamilton Square. The Mexican War was then raging, and the 
crowd was greatly interested in a mountain battery known as Captain 
Thistle's Mounted Artillery, "consisting of guns on the backs of 
horses. . . ." 

A float drawn by six white horses carried a bust of Washington on a 
pedestal. Thirteen young women, in white dresses and liberty caps 
and carrying star-tipped wands, were grouped around it to represent 
the thirteen original states. A canopy of American flags surmounted 
by an eagle covered the float. 

It had been ordered that the fire department should turn oflF at 23d 
Street and return via Fifth Avenue and Hudson Street to its quarters, 



72 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

"in order that, from prudential motives, the apparatus might not 
be taken so far from the city as yzd Street." A mob of hoodlums 
gathered at the corner of 23d Street, cheering the companies that 
refused to turn off and hooting, jeering, and offering forcible resist- 
ance to the firemen who obeyed the regulation. Blows were struck, 
and for some time there was a disgraceful scene of turmoil and 
confusion. 
Dedication The Worth Monument, which stands on a triangular plot bounded 
of the by Broadway, Fifth Avenue, 24th and 25th Streets, was dedicated 
JVorth November 25, 1 857, to the memory of Alajor-General William J. 
Monument Worth, the Mexican War commander who had distinguished himself 
at Cherubusco and Chapultepec, and died on June 7, 1849, at San 
Antonio, Texas. 

The designer and builder of the monument was James G. Batter- 
son. November 25, 1857, was chosen as the day of dedication, it 
being the seventy-fourth anniversary of the evacuation of New York 
by the British. President Buchanan and his Cabinet, Governor John 
A. King, and other notables were invited to be present, but the 
President could not accept. Rev. Francis Vinton, D.D., of Trinity 
Church assisted in the ceremonies. 

A procession of national guardsmen. Masonic organizations, and 
distinguished citizens moved up Broadway about noon from the City 
Hall, where the remains had lain in state under guard of a detachment 
of the Seventy-first New York Regiment, and passed through Fifth 
Avenue from 13th Street to the monument at 25th Street. Mayor 
Fernando Wood delivered an oration at the monument, after which 
Grand Master Robert Macoy of the Grand Lodge of New York Masons 
gave the dedicatory address. 

Curiously enough, the programme of the dedication ceremonies 
announced that "All persons desiring to have relics placed in the box 
. . . can do so by forwarding them to Alderman Blunt, No. 8 City 
Hall." This box was placed in the corner stone, and among the 
articles it contained were General Worth's commission on parchment; 
newspaper articles on Washington's funeral procession, December 14, 
1799; a fragment of the iron chain that was stretched across the 
Hudson at W^est Point; many newspapers and printed documents, 
such as Valentine's "History of New York," 1853, and Valentine's 
Manual for 1857; Masonic emblems made from the Charter Oak; 
a medal struck to commemorate the union of the Atlantic with the 
Erie Canal; a Colt revolving pistol; and a piece of stone from old 
Fort Putnam. 

A view of the ceremonies published by the New York Common 
Council shows that the General's remains were placed in a receptacle 
in the base of the monument. The monument was the first one in 
New York to be completed at the city's expense. It is a granite 
obelisk, upon which is a high relief of General Worth on horseback. 
Inscriptions descriptive of his career, and handsome reliefs in bronze 
adorn the four sides of the monument. 



FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 



73 



\ 







Lithograph by A. Weingartner. Collection of the late Amos F. Eno. 

DEDICATION OF THE WORTH MONUMENT. 

One of the most Impressive religious ceremonies ever held in New Dedication 
York was the dedication of St. Patrick's Cathedral on May 25, 1879. °f . , 

The corner stone of this great building had been laid by Archbishop r'S^Jj ^ 
Hughes twenty-one years before, on August 15, 1858. 

Before nine o'clock in the morning a great crowd began to gather 
about the cathedral, but a squad of a hundred and twenty-five police 
kept perfect order, and only those with tickets were allowed to enter 
the building. About ten o'clock Cardinal McCloskey with a retinue 
of bishops and priests marched into the chancel at the rear of the 
cathedral, the Catholics in the crowd kneeling as he passed. Every 
pew in the cathedral was filled, but only the dull murmur of the crowd 
outside broke the silence. Then from the gallery above the Fifth 
Avenue doorway the great organ pealed forth, and a thurifer wkh 
swinging censer advanced into the sanctuary from behind the high 
altar, followed by a cross-bearer carrying the processional cross. 

From either side of the sanctuary appeared a boy garbed in red 
cassock and white surplice. They met and advanced side by side 
down the sanctuary and into the middle aisle, followed by pair after 
pair similarly dressed. The cross-bearer slowly led the way down the 
aisle to the deep peals of the organ, and then a long line of priests 
appeared, clad in black cassocks and white surplices, with here and 
there a Carthusian in brown or a Dominican in white. Two by two 
the column filed slowly down the aisle toward the Fifth Avenue 
entrance, and then a sudden burst of bright color broke the monotony 
of the sombre line. The sanctuary chorus of the Church of St. Paul 



74 F I FT H A V E N U E E V E N T S 

the Apostle appeared,-^boys dressed in purple cassocks with bright 

scarlet buttons and white surplices. 

Solemn ^^^ j^q^ ^j^e bright sunlight glittered on the cross at the Fifth 

Bnlhancy Avenue entrance, and still the procession filed from the sacristy. 

P ■' ^ The bishops came into view, in pontifical robes of gleaming cloth of 

gold and white mitres, nearly forty in number, with Archbishops 

Purcell of Cincinnati and Gibbons of Baltimore at the end of the 

line. Next the scarlet cappa of the Prothonotary Apostolic and the 

jewelled Episcopal cross of the Cardinal flashed into sight, and then 

came the Cardinal himself in gorgeous robes and golden mitre and 

bearing a crosier. Attending the Cardinal were seven small boys 

in white cassocks and surplices, who closed the procession. 

A kaleidoscope of gleaming colors flashed in the sun as the glittering 
pageant poured out of the main doorway on to the Fifth Avenue 
sidewalk. Reaching the portal, the Cardinal stopped, said a prayer, 
and then solemnly blessed the great doorway and sprinkled it with 
holy water, while the chant of the "Miserere" arose from the chorus. 
Led by six policemen and the trustees of the Cathedral, the procession 
passed around the south side of the building and along the east and 
north sides. The Cardinal walked close to the walls, sprinkling upon 
the foundations holy water from a golden basin carried by the sexton. 
The circuit of the cathedral took some fifteen minutes, and then the 
procession re-entered the Fifth Avenue doorway and moved up the 
central aisle while the chorus chanted the "Litany of the Saints." 

The candles on the altars were lit, and the golden light flashed 
from polished marble, gleaming precious stones, and shimmering 
silks of a hundred hues. As the line approached the altar it divided 
to right and left, each man taking his appointed seat. Soon the side 
chapels and front of the sanctuary were filled with a solid mass of 
priests, while the bishops took their seats in double row on either side 
further up the sanctuary. The Cardinal made the sign of the cross 
and blessed the Cathedral and the altar, and then to the solemn chant- 
ing of the choir he walked with his attendants slowly around the inside 
of the walls, blessing them and sprinkling holy water as he went. This 
ended the dedication ceremonies, and the regular services were then 
held, Bishop Ryan of St. Louis preaching the sermon and Cardinal 
McCloskey singing the mass. 
Opening of Xhe formal opening of the New York Public Library on May 23, 
/heI\ezvYork jg-ij^ was attended by some five or six hundred persons, including 
, . " ^^ many people of eminence. A small crowd gathered outside on Fifth 
- Avenue to watch the arrival of the dignitaries, but the occasion did 
not attract the public notice it deserved. 

President Taft and the other speakers arrived before two o'clock 
and assembled in the trustees' room on the second floor. A half- 
circle of seats had been erected in the main vestibule facing a tem- 
porary platform, and on these the invited spectators took their seats. 
It was quite an exclusive gathering such as might have graced a college 
commencement ceremony. The general public was not admitted. 



FIFTH AVENUE EXTENTS 



75 



ers 



Soon after two o'clock "The Star-Spangled Banner" crashed out 
from a band in the rotunda, and the music rolled in deafening waves 
through the huge deserted corridors. The audience stood, and down 
the stairway on the left of the vestibule slowly came a double file of 
men. The librarian, Dr. John S. Billings, and his assistant, Edward H. 
Anderson, headed the procession. Next came Governor Dix and 
Trustee George L. Rives, Mayor Gaynor and Morgan J. O'Brien, 
Bishop Greer and Archbishop Farley, Andrew Carnegie, and other 
noted men. President Taft and John Bigelow, President of the 
New York Public Library, closed the procession, walking arm in arm. 
At the sight of the nation's head and the venerable Mr. Bigelow, the 
oldest man in public life at that time, the audience broke into loud 
applause. 

The speakers took their seats in a double row on the platform. In Speak 
the front row sat Park Commissioner Stover, Mayor Gaynor, John L. at the 
Cadwallader, President Taft, John Bigelow, Governor Dix, Bishop Opening 
Greer, Archbishop Farley, George L. Rives, Thomas Hastings of 
Carrere & Hastings, the building's architects, and Dr. Billings. 
Prayer was oflFered by Bishop Greer. Mr. Bigelow presided, and in- 
troduced Mr. Rives as the first speaker. The latter sketched the 
history of the public library, and was followed by Architect Hastings, 
who formally turned over the keys of the building to Park Com- 
missioner Stover. Mr. Stover delivered them to Mayor Gaynor, who 
handed them to Mr. Bigelow. Each made a brief address as he re- 
ceived the keys. 

Mr. Bigelow spoke of the period, then sixty years ago, when the 
Astor Library was established, saying: — 

"This was the first free library ever established in New York. To 
illustrate the library poverty of our city in the decade of that cen- 
tury which the Astor Library was destined to distinguish, I may 
here mention an experience of my own. In the study of an article 
I was preparing for a magazine of the period I needed to consult a 
Greek authority, not strictly a classic. I could not find it in any 
bookstore nor in private or public collection. The only copy to be 
found in this city or state was in the library of Columbia College, 
then flourishing in Warren Street. ..." 

Governor Dix spoke briefly in praise of the Library, and President 
Taft concluded the addresses in clear tones which made his the only 
speech of the occasion which the furthest-distant auditors could hear 
in entirety. He specially congratulated the library officials upon 
the excellent book circulation system, declaring it unrivalled any- 
where. 

The exercises closed with a benediction by Archbishop Farley, and 
then the doors were opened to the public. 

Fifth Avenue has been the scene of recent events of world-wide 
importance. Among these are the Suffrage parade, the demonstration 
in favor of Preparedness and the recent departure of the State Troops 
either to various training camps or to the Mexican border. But 



76 FIFTH AVENUE EVENTS 

these have occurred so recently, that they are still fresh in the mind 
of every one. An account of them, therefore, has been omitted. In 
years to come. Fifth Avenue, which we have learned has been the 
scene of so many interesting events of national importance, will no 
doubt be the setting of future events of civic importance and perhaps 
of even greater national interest than these herein narrated. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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